Patience is a Virtue

If you have e-mailed one of the websites, or me, and your name has not been added to the list, please post a note here or e-mail us again. We are all buried in e-mail right now and I don't want anyone to fall through the cracks.

Thanks!

William & Mary Grad Recognizes Tepid Form Letter As Such

I wrote individual letters to each member of the Board
of Visitors. I signed the petition (now 15,000 strong
and counting). I stood out in the freezing rain with
my four young children during last week's campus
debate about the cross. I appeared on WVEC Channel 13
voicing my support for the cross.

And what did my esteemed Board of Visitors give me in
reponse? A tepid form letter using Nichol's exact
phrases and exact line of reasoning ("spirit of
inclusion," "diversity")to tell me that they will keep
Nichol's decision as the default policy of the
college.

I quote from the generic letter from the Board (author
anonymous): "The Board of Visitors believes the
process put in place by the President [i.e., the
religious "committee"] affords an opportunity for a
greater number of people to express their opinions,
something that will better inform the views of the
Board and the President."

Does that mean they didn't hear from ENOUGH people
already? Or do they just need more time to come up
with arguments against the cross that aren't
self-contradictory?

Either way, their cowardice and passivity are a slap
in the face.

Ironically, I received a letter from the Alumni
Association yesterday requesting donations. I had
promised the BOV members in my letter that I would not
withhold money unless they failed to act at their
latest meeting. And guess what? They failed to act.

So please add my name to the list of those withholding
contributions. I'll be sending a personal letter to
the Alumni Association relaying the same.

Stephen R. Hawkins (M.A., 1997)
Williamsburg, VA

PS--Thank you and everyone else for all the efforts
you are putting into this. Keep up the good work.

List Update

Here is the latest list of alumni who are withholding contributions until the Wren Chapel Cross is returned to the chapel:

Margee Mulhall, '84
Karen Hall, '78 (Fourth Century Club)
Karla K. Bruno, ’81 and ‘92
Elizabeth Gibbons, '71
Eugene R. Thurston,Jr. '66 (Fourth Century Club)
Victor K. Biebighauser '75
Todd Skiles '92 (Bequeath Revoked)
Andrew R. McRoberts, A.B.‘87
Constance Bruce McRoberts, B.B.A.‘88
W. J. Clark Evans, B.B.A., '82
Ellen Williams Evans, B.A. '83
Robert G. Jones, A.B. Government, '72 (Fourth Century Club; William and Mary Athletic Education Fund; others)
Jean Zettler, '73 (Fourth Century Club)
Susan Prock. '80
Andy Yacos, '86
Stephanie (Kobezak) Selmer, '94

It's a great start, but it would help us if the list were much longer. Please let me know if you'd like your name added to the list. And spread the word. Also, be sure to let me know if you have sent your name in and it hasn't been posted.

Thanks!

More "No Cross, No Cash" Names Added to the List

Susan Prock, '80
Benjamin Locher, '07, Government
Withholding senior class gift and beyond)
James H. Jones '82 and '86

Another Member of the "No Cross, No Cash" Brigade!

This is a request for membership in the "No Cross, No Cash" Brigade. I have been a regular contributor to the Wm & Mary Fund (with matching corporate gifts) and to the Wm & Mary Athletic Educational Foundation since 1975. In December, I informed the Fund administrators that I was revoking my pledge to the Fourth Century Club. I have also declined a request to be a donor for the Class of '72's 35th anniversary gift. I will be reconsidering my support of WMAEF between now and the due date in March for annual renewal.

I look forward to a future for William and Mary that is marked by a return to leadership and governance that is worthy of her heritage.

Thank you.


Robert G. Jones, A.B. Government, '72

Other College Chapels, Other Crosses

It may be of interest, in the context of this issue, to examine another Colonial College Chapel, Kirkpatrick Chapel, at Rutgers University. There is a cross always clearly displayed at the alter of the Chapel, even in this most non-sectarian public university and New Jersey atmosphere. One may equally visit Princeton University chapel and view a cross on display at the alter. With these examples, the question is why does President Nichols feel that he is the self-appointed judge of taste. How does he have the authority to dictate this change in policy?

It is a desecration of the chapel and a lack of respect, for President Nichols to arrogantly remove this object of Christianity without consultation of the Board of Visitors or any other body. At the end of the day, the Wren Chapel is a Christian chapel comparable to both Kirkpatrick Chapel and Princeton Chapel. I am not the most religious person, but this unfeeling abhorrent tyrannical act even offends my senses. It is in this chapel, that I was inducted into my sorority. We did not feel uncomfortable or hindered by the cross. Not all members of the sorority were Christian.

The act greatly concerns me for the larger ramifications for the college. Certainly a Stalinist tactic does not bode well for consensus making, vision or leadership skills. It is at times like this, when seemingly smaller liberties or rights are trampled, that the process of diminishing democracy begins. The best way to stand up to a bully is not to go like Neville Chamberlin, with a cane and follow a policy of appeasement, but rather to resist and stand for the absolute right for this cross to be displayed 24-7. There is not even room for an ounce of compromise. One has to question President Nichol's fitness for his current position. Perhaps he, not the cross, should be the object removed. Perhaps there are some who are "uncomfortable" in his presence as one might easily be, in the presence of any royal despot, tyrant or dictator.

Jane L. Franks
Class of 1975

Letter to Nichol: A Jewish Perspective

This is a very thoughtful letter from Jonathan M. Baron, W&M Class of 1992, regarding Nichol as a self-appointed spokesperson for the broader Jewish community.

January 2, 2007

Dear President Nichol:

The decision to remove the cross from Wren Chapel marks a deeply sad moment in the history of the College, and I join the members of the William & Mary community who have expressed disappointment and strong opposition.

In your e-mail of December 20 on the controversy, you wrote the following: "I have been saddened to learn of potential students and their families who have been escorted into the Chapel on campus tours and chosen to depart immediately thereafter. And to read of a Jewish student, required to participate in an honor council program in the Chapel during his first week of classes, vowing never to return to the Wren."

The attempt to justify, even in part, the removal of the cross as some sort of accommodation of the broader Jewish community is terribly unfortunate. The suggestion of a general Jewish intolerance for Christian symbols located in places of Christian worship is misguided and threatens to create the very divisions you seek to avoid. Judaism does not gain by denying Christians their historic spaces and practices, including when those spaces and practices extend to the public square.

Christians and Jews do not occupy a zero-sum game of religious observance. To the contrary, the Christian tradition in America has long held that all of mankind is created in G-d's image, and it is this enduring belief that has advanced tolerance and equal protection of religious and other minorities. Your action suggests, or at least concedes the point, that Christianity represents some kind of offense from which Jews require protection. Beyond the simple absurdity of the matter, contemporary events in lands characterized by declining Christian practice and/or growing secularism do not argue that less Christianity creates a more favorable environment for Jews.

The Jewish people in the United States have achieved unprecedented security, prosperity, and status as full citizens. It is difficult to believe that, whatever the motives, citing Jews as a pretext for removing the cross from Wren Chapel can do anything to improve upon this happy condition. Thankfully, we can be confident that American Christianity will continue to assert the tolerance that for centuries has made this country a land of hope and opportunity for the Jewish people.

Sincerely,

Jonathan M. Baron, W&M Class of 1992

Member, B'nai Tzedek Congregation of Potomac, Maryland

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