People sometimes refer to the arcana of DC as “inside Baseball.” If so, the battle over U. Va. and its board is Inside Little League. Briefly, the governor-appointed board fired the university’s president, Teresa Sullivan, last summer, then quickly reinstated her in the face of protests. The move to oust her was led by board member Helen Dragas, who is now in the news because she’s up for renewal. Predictably, the Washington Post hates her. Why predictably, and why should one care? Because this is really about who runs universities: the faculty or the stakeholders. And the WaPo, once again, is on the side of waste, corruption and evil.
The shape of modern university is the result of a bargain between administrators like Sullivan and the faculty, and goes like this: The administrator gets a $700,000 yr. salary and the faculty gets to do whatever it wants. The board, which is meant to police the bargain, is composed of supine, faineant Merovingians.
That’s reason enough to support Dragas, who wanted the University to run a little more efficiently. If that’s not enough, the WaPo hates her.