Former Delegate David Ramadan is showing no signs of disappearing from the public square as he renews the call for reform at the University of Virginia, first and foremost by removing embattled (and outgoing) President Teresa Sullivan. From the Roanoke Times editorial page:
Leadership, after all, isn’t about commissioning another study. Leadership doesn’t rely on carefully crafted and highly polished press releases.
Leaders don’t check to see which way the wind’s blowing. Leaders don’t shift blame or point a finger at others. Leaders don’t abandon candor as a matter of convenience. Leaders lead because — first and foremost — that’s why they were chosen, and they know it.
But now that her university has become a metaphorical epicenter of hate and fear, Terry Sullivan has one last golden opportunity to accept responsibility for a failure to lead by doing just that.
The University of Virginia has been embroiled in scandals that seem to come annually, whether it is Alt-Right/Antifa rallies, murdered students, racial tensions, students beaten in front of ABC stores for the possession of a water bottle, or the $2.3 billion slush fund uncovered by former Board of Visitors member Helen Dragas that this year has neatly co-incided with a number of visible construction projects both on and off Grounds.
Whispers that the General Assembly intends to exact more oversight over the University — including a recuperation of a majority of the “slush fund” — are ongoing, with most believing that the door to such a rescue of taxpayer funds has been firewalled off… for the moment, at least.
Either way, Ramadan and other former and current members of the General Assembly are not going away anytime soon. Sullivan’s may not be long for the world of Charlottesville, but calls for her immediate departure in the face of ongoing scandal seem to be multiplying, not dying out.
