The University of Virginia’s governing board of visitors suddenly dismissed university president Teresa Sullivan, a move that has generated a lot of confusion and anger on the campus. Sullivan had been in the position only two years, and it seems almost no one on campus knew the board was contemplating this move.
The Washington Post covers the story, with an . . . odd sentence:
In a telephone interview Monday, the leader of the board, Rector Helen E. Dragas, said the board would be vindicated in due time.
“It’s really too early to judge this decision,’’ Dragas said. “This decision should be judged after a new president is installed.”
Dragas, a Virginia Beach developer who was named to the board by a Democratic governor in 2008, said the board had voiced “overwhelming support” for replacing Sullivan. Dragas denied the move had any “political considerations.”
Didn’t that Democratic governor have a name? Wasn’t it “Tim Kaine”? The same Tim Kaine who’s running for U.S. Senate this year?
What’s really odd is that Kaine does get mentioned a few paragraphs later:
The board’s decision, made last week, was unanimous, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The board, with 16 voting members, is split equally between those appointed by McDonnell and by his predecessor, Timothy M. Kaine.
So what was this? Poor editing, or an effort to obscure Kaine’s connection to a board’s controversial decision?