The President of my Alma Mater, Gene Nichol, resigned recently after a short two years or so at the helm of William and Mary.  Over his presidency, he was involved in a number of different controversial events, the most notable being the “Wren Cross Controversy.”

I do not intend to discuss whether or not he made good decisions.  I just want to point out the obvious reason he got fired and why small schools should be worried.  Gene Nichol was fired because major donors threatened to withdraw donations from a school that is not very wealthy.  Small schools should be worried because they typically only have a small group of large donors and generally have a greater need for each of these donors to keep contributing, so each of these donors have a huge amount of power over the small schools.

William and Mary would be gravely injured if a multi-million dollar donor stopped donating.  The College had a choice – do what the donors wanted or lose a ton of money.  Whether or not Nichol was the right man for the job is irrelevant.  It’s whether Nichol was someone with whom the donors were willing to put up with.

I have nothing to say about Nichol’s policy decisions, or whether he has an agenda.  Perhaps the donors who withdrew the money and instigated Nichol’s ousting are actually sparking a positive change.  And money is needed to provide a top notch education.  The thing that bothers me is not these immediate effects.  I am concerned because of the fact that small schools can easily be forced to bend to the will of a few, because of desperation for money.  What happens when a few want to pursue some extreme ideological agenda?

college, donors, funding, nichol, william and mary, wren cross