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Cole has questions on W&M sex show
Cole wants to question W&M officials
By CHELYEN DAVIS
Date published: 2/7/2008
RICHMOND --Concerned about "the direction that William & Mary is going in," Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, has called several of the college's board of visitors members to Richmond for some questioning.
Cole, the chairman of the House Privileges and Elections Committee, said he wants to provide delegates the chance to question four members of the College of William & Mary's board of visitors in the wake of a controversial decision by the college's president to allow a sex worker's art show at the college this week.
That comes after President Gene Nichol last year removed a cross from Wren Chapel, another controversial decision that had lawmakers fuming.
Four board of visitors members from the College of William & Mary--Kathy Hornsby, John Gerdelman, Anita Poston and Henry Wolf --will appear tomorrow before Cole's committee.
The board of visitors members are those who were appointed or reappointed by the governor before the legislative session began, and those appointments must be confirmed by the General Assembly by tomorrow.
Cole said he's holding the interviews so that delegates can ask the BOV members what they think about the sex workers show, the cross decision, and other issues that have cropped up at the college.
"Why does it seem that they think a cross in a chapel is offensive but a sex show is not?" Cole said.
One of the four board members, Hornsby, was interviewed in yesterday's edition of the Williamsburg newspaper, The Virginia Gazette.
She said she attended the sex show.
"I thought as a member of the board of visitors it was important for me to see it," she said in the Gazette article. "What I saw was interesting and entirely appropriate--for adults. Most William & Mary students are adults."
Cole acknowledged that the interviews are unusual; board of visitors members are not usually required to undergo one.
"It just reflects that we have an unusual set of circumstances at William & Mary," Cole said. "There's a concern that William & Mary is heading down the wrong path. It appears to be becoming a politically correct joke."
Asked if the board of visitors members' answers to delegates' questions might threaten the approval of their appointments, Cole said that isn't his intention.
"I don't want this to be a confrontational meeting," he said. "I just want it to be a meeting where members can share their concerns."
This isn't the first time lawmakers have involved themselves in the operations of colleges over concerns about sex-related school activities.
Del. Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, has in the past few years objected to a sex-oriented talk show at Virginia Tech, as well as a "SexFest" show at James Madison University that included a demonstration of how to put on a condom.
Chelyen Davis: 804/782-9362
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com
Date published: 2/7/2008
Most recent reader comments:
this is why we're losing voters
(posted by
staffordGOP
, Feb. 7, 2008 4:14 pm)
how can we support small government when Delegates like Cole are wasting our tax money on "hearings" like this?
do the job that we pay you for, not the one your wife's Christian school does
What a waste
(posted by
southwest
, Feb. 7, 2008 3:19 pm)
It is a shame that "Rebublican" Mark Cole has decided to address "freedom of speech" issues and not the issues that we "all" suffer with, such as the transportation disaster that the Commonwealth of Virginia is experiencing. Please Virginia wake up, we need me in the General Assembly who is willing to address issues that affect our quality of life that we all suffer with because of the lack of action by the present General Assembly. Not someone who wants to attack our constitutional rights.
Ridiculous
(posted by
KGPrincess
, Feb. 7, 2008 2:01 pm)
I think it is a little crazy that our representatives are wasting their time that is Censorship. If this was a High School I could understand but it is a college. I think that maybe these representatives should use their time a little more wisely instead of wasting my tax paying dollars on something stupid.
Secular Humanism (the Atheist's religion) strikes again. How totally unsurprising that a college full of liberal secular progressive professors find a cross offensive, but not a sex show. The cross could have been covered, or even moved during services of other faiths/denominations, but they chose to remove it. Seems only fair now that if a minority of people are offended by a sex show that the same rules apply. Remove the sex show or shut up about the cross and replace it!
Separated at birth
(posted by
MathewBrooks
, Feb. 7, 2008 1:23 pm)
Um... is it just me or does Delegate Cole look EXACTLY like Andrew Sullivan?
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