Free Speech under Fire in the U.S.'s Former Capital

Williamsburg, Virginia was once the heart of America, the capital of Britain's colony across the Atlantic, and one of the key birthplaces of the American revolution that established the United States as an independent nation governed under the world's longest lasting Constitution.

The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg is the second oldest university in the nation. It's educated a plethora of American greats including many of the nation's so-called fore-fathers (Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Richard Bland, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Randolph, Benjamin Harrison, John Marshall and John Tyler), with George Washington serving as the university's first chancellor. In the modern era, folks such as the current U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Glenn Close and John Stewart, as well as many offspring of Washington players have attended. And then there are clowns such as myself (class of '96).

Despite this illustrious history of progressive education and leadership, the latest President of the university, Gene Nichol, was recently ousted, allegedly due to his liberal leanings which led to his attempts to make the campus chapel more open to multiple faiths, expand a program to enable low-income state residents attend university without being burned by debt, and (the final straw) permitting the student body association to allow the Sex Workers' Art Show to perform on campus. Nichols (a constitutional lawyer) defended his actions on the ground of free speech, separation of church and state, and the responsibilities of a public university. These acts were generally supported by the campus community, and by all accounts Nichol was well-loved. However, the Board of Visitors appears to be a lot cut from a different cloth, viewing the values of the Old South (and conservatives throughout the nation) as more important than the values of the university.