scandal in a medium town

Sullivan exiting the BOV meeting Monday afternoon (see her in her blue suit, I'm beginning to love the woman, but we have to buy her a new suit)

if you aren't a uva alum, or don't live in charlottesville, then boy are you missing a good scandal. in the past week and a half, the uva president has been forced to resign with pressure from the uva board of visitors (BOV). and then it all hit the internet and exploded into what i can safely say is a PR nightmare.

there are a lot of rifts that make people upset. the secrecy of the BOV, the suddenness, the fact that she was the first female uva president, the good old boy network, lack of transparency in a public university...like i said, there is a lot.

monday afternoon the BOV had a meeting and invited Sullivan to attend. she wanted an open session, she got a closed session. in response to Sully's presence on grounds (for non-UVA-ers, we don't have a campus, we have grounds, we can debate the pretentiousness of this later) and the discontent (to put it mildly) of staff, faculty, students, and alumni, there was a rally on the Lawn (again, we don't have a quad or courtyard, we have the Lawn, capital "L").  the rally for transparency and it was organized by the faculty senate (yes, even the faculty agreed on the fact that it is a rare day when faculty agree on anything, so this should tell you something about the emotions of it all).

now, i feel like i need to attach a disclaimer on this post. i'm no newswoman. i have no desire to be barbara walters. i don't totally understand all the details of the issues. for a look into the news, please visit the c-ville.

but i did attend this rally.

and it was something special.

i've noticed in recent years that as much as i enjoy politics, my foreign affairs classes, my politically minded friends, at the end of the day, i get emotional about it. i get corny. and being at this rally--seeing so many people united because they feel wronged, they feel judged as unable to understand the intricacies of the problem and therefore kept in the dark, they feel like uva is a sacred place that is not being respected, its values ignored--was powerful.

standing there in the crowd i felt we were making a statement. i was making a statement. we stood together. we were a strong group.

 i want this place to remain as i knew it, to remain honorable, traditional, and yet full of hope for the future.

as i continue to follow the news, the facebook posts, the tweets, i hope that we all come out on the other side of this with a new sense of awareness for the effects of decisions, the power of words, and the belief that community matters.

i hope.

a statement if there ever was one 

enough said