The city of Richmond is gradually staking its claim on Ed Ayers. The former UVA dean of Arts and Sciences has just finished his first year as president of the University of Richmond, and Style Weekly put Ayers on its cover this week, generally calling his start a success.
“It’s been so positive, it would sound dishonest if I told you,” Ayers says to Style Weekly.
The curly headed historian was hired as a reconciler after previous president William Cooper pissed off alumni by saying that UR’s standards needed to be higher if it wanted to do more than transform “mush with mush.” So far, Ayers has instituted some programs to involve the university more in the life of Richmond city, as well as wowing donors, DJing for students and cavorting with alumni.
But the article includes some criticism of Ayers’ response to a black doll found hanging in a noose outside the theater department just before a play opened that depicted a fictional meeting of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Ayers didn’t send out a mass e-mail, unlike what he did after two prior racially hostile occurrences.
“I was a little let down by that response,” student Marissa White, who is African American, told Style Weekly. “Isn’t that your job to make sure that students feel safe?”
Ayers is unapologetic about his course of action: “I said, ‘You need to take ownership of this. It can’t just always be me chastising you guys.’”
Many UVA alumni are hoping that Ayers doesn’t get too settled in down in Richmond: he’s seen by many as the man to replace John T. Casteen III as president of the University of Virginia.
