CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.- The sudden removal of the University of Virginia's first female President Teresa Sullivan has created quite an uproar on and off campus, with a number of wealthy donors threatening to withhold donations.
Tuesday, the Board of Visitors appointed Carl P. Zeithami, dean of the undergraduate business school, McIntire School of Commerce, as interim president.
Sullivan, 62, was appointed as President of UVA in 2010. The university board claimed that Sullivan's failure to ensure the speedy and necessary change to the universities programs was one of the main causes for the decision. Sullivan submitted her resignation on June 10 stating "philosophical difference of opinion," as stated by the New York Times, as the main reason. She will remain in office till August 15, when Zeithami will fill in as interim president.
Sullivan told Ann Arbor News, "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."
The massive protests from students has prompted vice rector of the Board of Visitors, Mark Kington, to submit his resignation Tuesday stating that he wants "no part of this ongoing fiasco," as reported by Ann Arbor News.
Prior to her tenure of UVA president, Sullivan served as the provost of the University of Michigan.
More than 2,000 people including students, faculty and staff members gathered outside the Rotunda at UVA in support of Sullivan.
