Earlier this summer, the University of Virginia (UVA) treated the nation to a display of colossal boneheadedness as its governing body, the Board of Visitors, ignored state law, its own rules, university tradition and common sense to fire the school’s popular president, thereby inspiring a revolt of students, faculty and alumni, national media attention and a gubernatorial threat to fire every single board member if they didn’t clean up the mess they created. With their jobs on the line and amid a toxic atmosphere on campus, the board members quickly reversed themselves with a unanimous vote to reinstate the president.
What!? How is it that the board could decide on June 8 that the president was so incompetent that she had to be fired immediately, only to conclude 18 days later by a unanimous vote that she was the perfect choice to lead the university into the future?