Note: This story is from Feb. 13th. While not hot off the presses I covered this story earlier here and wanted to post an update.
From Inside High Red:
Presidential Ouster at William & Mary
“Gene R. Nichol resigned immediately Tuesday as president of the College of William & Mary, days after being told that his contract wouldn’t be renewed. In leaving Nichol issued a blunt attack on those alumni and conservatives who have sought his ouster, defended his stances in a series of controversial decisions, and accused board members of seeking to offer him a “substantial” sum of money to publicly state that he wasn’t losing his job for ideological reasons.
Nichol’s departure prompted an immediate campus protest, with some students and faculty members saying that a great president had been treated unfairly. Meanwhile his critics were celebrating. While board members denied that they had done anything wrong or inappropriate in trying to negotiate a settlement with him, they acknowledged offering the cash and making it contingent on mutually agreeable statements, a not-uncommon practice.”
(snip)
“Nichol also noted controversies — most recently involving an art exhibit by sex industry workers — that offended legislators. Here he said his First Amendment obligations required that he let these events take place.
On the proposed deal with the board for him to leave quietly, Nichol’s statement said this: “The Board of Visitors offered both my wife and me substantial economic incentives if we would agree ‘not to characterize [the non-renewal decision] as based on ideological grounds’ or make any other statement about my departure without their approval. Some members may have intended this as a gesture of generosity to ease my transition. But the stipulation of censorship made it seem like something else entirely. We, of course, rejected the offer. It would have required that I make statements I believe to be untrue and that I believe most would find non-credible. I’ve said before that the values of the college are not for sale. Neither are ours.””
Posted by Vixen as News, Sex Workers at 11:38 PM CST