CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - After a meeting with the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia on Tuesday board members voted to reinstate the ousted Teresa Sullivan as the university president. The vote was unanimous. The reversal of the board's decision of Sullivan's resignation is a direct consequence of the huge protests by angry students and faculty as well as wealthy donors withdrawing money.
In an announcement Tuesday, the woman at the heart of Sullivan's resignation, Rector Helen E. Dragas, UVA's first female rector, said "We have both come to the conclusion that it's time to bring the U-Va. family back together," as reported by the Washington Post.
Dragas pushed for Sullivan's resignation because her strategies for incorporating changes to the University were considered too slow. In an interview with Ann Arbor News, Sullivan, 62, said "We are all aware that the UVA needs to change and for the past 2 years I have been working to do just that...Apparently, the area of disagreement appears to be just how that change should occur and at what pace...I am an incrementalist."
Tuesday as both women stood before the university's historic Rotunda, Sullivan told reporters, "This is not a sign of weakness on their part, but a sign of strength and deliberation and a good example to each of us," as reported by the Washington Post.
However, the damage done might be permanent. There is some uncertainty whether Sullivan's reinstatement will bring back donors. And the June 10 protests prompted the vice rector of the Board of Visitors, Mark Kington, to submit his resignation. Kington stated that he wants "no part of this ongoing fiasco," as reported by Ann Arbor News
According to reports Dragas' term will end this Sunday, Governor Robert F. McDonnell will make the final decision whether she will or will not get reappointed.
Prior to her tenure of UVA president, Sullivan served as the provost of the University of Michigan. In 2010 Sullivan became the first female to become president of the university.
