Nichol added: "[T]he 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."I altered the way a Christian cross was displayed in a public facility, on a public university campus, in a chapel used regularly for secular College events -- both voluntary and mandatory -- in order to help Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and other religious minorities feel more meaningfully included as members of our broad community. The decision was likely required by any effective notion of separation of church and state. And it was certainly motivated by the desire to extend the College’s welcome more generously to all. We are charged, as state actors, to respect and accommodate all religions, and to endorse none. The decision did no more.
The Board of Visitor's in a statement, however, said that its decision "was not in any way based on ideology or any single public controversy." It added that "so there is no doubt, the Board will not allow any change in the compromise reached on the placement of the Wren Cross." The Board also announced that Law School Dean W. Taylor Reveley will serve as acting president unitl a successor is found.
Today's Washington Post reports on the resignation. [Thanks to Chip Lupu for the lead.]
