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Here's free advice for the president of the College of William and Mary. Bring back the cross. Now. Or ignore it and continue to look foolish. [Read More!]

If there is one lesson to be learned in the continuing controversy at the College of William and Mary, it’s you don’t appoint a former ACLU officer to head a college with a religious background. That’s akin to naming a vegetarian as president of the American Cattlemen’s Association or choosing a pacifist to head the NRA.
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As a 1986 history graduate of the College of William and Mary, a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary, and currently a Ph.D. student in church history at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., I feel that I have at least a little knowledge about religion and history. [Read More!]

In the 1600s, America’s new settlers founded two universities: Harvard University and the College of William and Mary in Virginia (WM). Although Harvard is private and WM is public — and both are now purely secular — both have histories rich in the Christian faith of their founders. [Read More!]

I am writing this letter to comment on the removal of the cross from the College of William and Mary's Wren Chapel. As a 1986 history graduate of William and Mary, a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary, and currently a PhD student in church history at Catholic University, I have at least a little knowledge of religion and history.
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The controversy over when a bronze cross can be put on display in the Wren Chapel at the College of William & Mary is the result of just one more attempt at political correctness ["'Put off' by a cross?" Jan. 9]. [Read More!]

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President Gene Nichol recently decided to remove the cross from the Wren Chapel altar at William and Mary. It is but one reason why the incurably Christ-o-phobic administrator should be removed from his position at the prestigious institution of higher learning. Another reason is the secretive fashion in which he made the decision – one that was free from the input of students, faculty, staff, and alumni. [Read More!]

THE head of the College of William & Mary has genuflected to the god of political correctness, and has needlessly offended many students, alumni, and others who respect history and tradition. Since the 1930s, the altar in the chapel of the Christopher Wren Building on the college’s Williamsburg, Va., campus was home to an 18-inch cross. But in a misplaced quest for religious neutrality, President Gene Nichol had it removed in October. [Read More!]

When the extremist Taleban junta demolished the centuries old Bamiyan Buddha statues in Afghanistan in 2001, the world replied with outrage at the attacks on those ancient artifacts. It was, indeed, an outrage against art, antiquity, history, and religion as these great statues carved into a mountainside in the Bamyan Valley were brutally dynamited by the Islamist extremists then holding Afghanistan in thrall. It was right that the world community expressed their disgust at this obscene destruction. [Read More!]

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Proof that tolerance is becoming intolerable: Students willingly attending a university that was founded at the request of the Anglican church are miffed because there's a cross in the sanctuary of the campus chapel. [Read More!]

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New York. One of the first problems the incoming president of the 300-year-old College of William and Mary, Gene Nichol, faced was a weighty matter of feathers -- two to be precise. They were attached to a zippy logo for the athletic teams at the college, used for 20 years on everything from team uniforms to plastic booze cups. The college had spent a lot of money and effort defending the alumni's nostalgic attachment to a sports symbol against a bizarre legal challenge. [Read More!]

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William & Mary president Gene Nichol continues to create quite a big stink in the College of William and Mary community. Last October, he had made a unilateral decision to quietly banish the Wren Chapel’s two-foot brass cross to a closet until it was requested, a reversal of the original policy that allowed the removal of the cross from the altar during activities that did not appreciate its presence. His decision had received both praise and wrath; praise for his sensitivity and social enlightenment and wrath for his discrimination against the Christian history of the College. In response to the uproar among community members, he has offered to replace the cross on Sundays. This compromise is unacceptable. [Read More!]

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Williamsburg. In October, William and Mary's new president, Gene Nichol, ordered the brass cross that had adorned the altar of the school's Wren Chapel for decades, to be removed and locked away unless spe- cifically requested to be put out on the altar. Nichol explained his decision on October 27, that the "chapel . . . must be welcoming to all." Yet, removing symbols is an action done in a spirit of censorship; it is not a welcoming act. [Read More!]

By Ludwell H. Johnson III, Williamsburg

November 28, 2006

I am a former professor of history at the College of William and Mary. I read with interest the column by my friend, Scott Nelson, praising the president of W&M; for closeting the Wren Chapel cross. Nelson seems to think that this saved the college from becoming another Liberty University, dragged along in fundamentalist chains by some equivalent to the Rev. Jerry Falwell. [Read More!]

Washington. The new president of the College of William and Mary, Gene Nichol, has ordered the removal of the historic Wren Cross from the altar of the school chapel. The Wren Chapel is located in the oldest academic building in continuous use in the United States, at the very heart of the nation's second-oldest university, founded in 1693. [Read More!]

In all the furor about William & Mary removing the cross from the Wren Chapel altar, no one has said anything about the cross itself. [Read More!]

Shame on the College of William and Mary. Removing a cross from a chapel? "Our chapel, like our entire campus, must be welcoming to all," said college President Gene Nichol ("Gold cross is removed from "W&M; chapel altar," Oct. 28). Who did the chapel not welcome? Looks like he meant the campus must be welcoming to all - except Christians. [Read More!]

A gauge of the health of a society is how it treats the sacred. A chapel is set aside for prayers and the worship of God, and the architecture of the Wren Chapel at the College of William and Mary reflects that intent. The college has chosen to make it a multi-purpose room. Placing the cross in the closet? Why not? Why not get rid of the Holy Table as well -- unless it serves as a good place to stack lecture material or awards. [Read More!]

Recently the decision was made at the College of William & Mary to end the permanent display of the cross in Wren Chapel in order to make the chapel a less "faith-specific" space and more "welcoming." [Read More!]

The decision to remove the altar cross from Wren Chapel is a travesty ("Gold cross is removed from W&M; chapel altar," Oct. 28). Those who choose to deny our Christian heritage continue to chip away in their desire to remove all references to God or Jesus Christ from the public arena. The chapel's use by many people for nonreligious purposes is cited. They need to also recognize that the chapel is probably used much more frequently for appropriate religious purposes. [Read More!]

Removing the cross from the Wren Chapel at the College of William and Mary is a classic case of liberal political correctness overkill. Is the Holy Bible going into the closet next? [Read More!]

Students and alumni at William & Mary have organized to "Save the Wren Cross" after the school's president ordered the removal of a cross from a campus chapel. [Read More!]

A group of students and alumni have got together at William & Mary to save the cross at the historic Wren Chapel. This page featured the story of the disappearance of the cross several days ago, and since then students and alumni alike have been stewing at the administration’s politically correct give-in. I just received a message from Vince Haley, William & Mary Class of 1988, who tells me that a consortium of W&M; folks have created Save The Wren Cross.org, which features, among other things, a petition to sign. [Read More!]

I commend your Thursday editorial questioning the decision at William and Mary to remove the cross from the Wren Chapel. As a Colonial historian, I appreciate the consistent commitment of the college and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to historical accuracy in their presentations. [Read More!]

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To the Editor:
I read the article entitled, “Cross removed to make Wren Chapel less ‘faith-specific’,” and was appalled by the belief that a cross in a chapel is offensive. Historically, chapels are tied to Christianity, hence why would a cross inside be offensive?
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To the Editor:
There should be no confusion; President Nichol’s order to remove the cross from permanent display in the Wren Chapel is a radical decision. It is a radical decision that alumni, students and faculty should act to reverse. If the cross removal order stands, the College community will be accepting a dramatic erosion of its core historic identity. [Read More!]

Last week, President Nichol revealed that the presence of the cross in Wren Chapel would be offensive, stating that, “recognition of the full dignity of each member of our diverse community is vital.” Instead, his actions were a blow to the integrity of the Chapel’s history, and a strike against what the cross represents -- values such as faith, sacrifice and openness. [Read More!]

It never ceases to amaze us the depths to which academics will go to grovel before the great secular god of “diversity,” and, while doing so, deliver a swift backward kick to tradition — and the Almighty. [Read More!]

The chapel in the Wren Building, near the apex of the William and Mary campus, is a hushed room of stone and dark paneling, rows of high-backed pews facing a central aisle, a small altar at the head of the room ringed by a rail. [Read More!]

The College of William and Mary ranks as the nation's second-oldest institution of higher learning. It traces its roots to the Colonial era and owes its birth to the Anglican Church. Its early presidents were men of the cloth; its early chancellors included bishops of London and archbishops of Canterbury. [Read More!]

The College of William and Mary has decided to make its famous campus chapel less "faith specific" and more "welcoming" by getting rid of the cross on its altar. Administrators huff that they're not tossing the cross aside--just putting it away when necessary to prevent students from being offended. [Read More!]

7 December 2006 | The Flat Hat » opinions

Whatever you think of College President Gene Nichol’s decision to remove the cross from the Wren Chapel altar until it is requested, the secretive way the policy change was made is an embarrassment to the ideals of this college. The decision to change the cross policy was made without input from students, faculty or alumni, and was not even officially commented on until media pressure forced a reaction from the president. The College should be a model for vigorous debate and transparency, not a place where decisions are made in the dark with the hope that they will never be brought to light. [Read More!]

The Wren Chapel at the College of William & Mary has been the source of controversy recently, after a decision was made to remove a cross from the altar during secular events. The cross is being removed "in order to make the Wren Chapel less of a faith-specific space," according to an e-mail printed in The Flat Hat newspaper at William & Mary. While moving the cross is an option, the problem could be avoided altogether by groups uncomfortable with the cross trying to find another venue. [Read More!]