After the six-minute open discussion during which press were permitted in the Rotunda meeting room, Rector Helen Dragas adjourned the Board of Visitors’ meeting at 2:38am. Students and faculty lined the sidewalks surrounding the Rotunda, asking press members for details.
The long day came to a climactic but uninformative end when Dragas finally emerged, escorted by police. Students and microphone-wielding reporters flocked the Rector and attempted to fill in the gaps while walking toward the vehicle that she was ultimately driven away in.
Dragas remained tight-lipped for the majority of her journey to the car, despite shouted requests for her resignation and questions like “Why were you afraid of Heywood Fralin?” and “Can you clarify your daily phone calls to Paul Tudor Jones?”
A student who described the inordinate amount of money his parents pay for his out-of-state tuition demanded “Still no word to me as a student? What do you have to say?”
“I would say that it’s a Board decision,” Dragas responded, and was drowned out by further questions and comments from the crowd.
At 2:58am, nearly 12 hours after arriving late to the Board of Visitors’ meeting, Dragas made one more statement to the press and UVA students before shutting her car door:
“I would just advise you not to believe everything you read in the papers.”
