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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
