<p>"MUSH MOUTH: William E. Cooper, president of the University of Richmond, who caught flak last fall for calling his students' brains "mush," has announced that he will step down next June. Mr. Cooper, 54, will take a yearlong sabbatical before returning to become a member of the faculty"</p>
<p>COHE</p>
<p>Surprising. It appeared last month that he had ridden out the most recent storm. Looks like a faculty group continued to push the issue, and Mr. Cooper had few allies. I'm not holding my breath that UR will suddenly rescind their tuition hike, though.</p>
<p>Maybe now I will let my son apply! Wife has mentioned U of R as a possible for my son and I always responded that they have recently jacked tuition and the university pres is on record disparaging his student body. Both were huge turnoffs for me.</p>
<p>I hear ya -- but the one big (pun intended) turn-off remains. $$$$</p>
<p>Cooper had some other ideas that I liked but that just served to burn his bridges with possible allies. He floated the idea of moving down to Division II or III in athletics. In his part of the country, that idea is damn near unpatriotic. It's one thing to decide not to move up, but to actually consider moving down? He also severed ties with the Virginia Baptist Conference -- not a bad thing in my opinion, but just another group that wouldn't support him. </p>
<p>Bottom line is the guy appeared to have no people skills, and I can't think of any skill that is MORE important in his position.</p>