James McGlothlin, chairman and CEO of The United Company of Bristol, Va., and a former member of The College of William & Mary?s Board of Visitors and a longtime donor, withheld his pledge of $12 million to the college. He made his decision because of the actions taken by Gene Nichol, the college president, who ordered the removal of the cross from Wren Chapel. The cross had been displayed on the chapel altar since around 1940. Nichol?s justification was that he wanted to make the chapel welcoming to non-Christians.
That?s a lie. President Nichol was a chapter president of the American Civil Liberties Union for North Florida, and an ACLU board member in North Carolina and Colorado. The ACLU has maintained an attack on religious symbols for decades, but usually through the courts. President Nichol?s actions simply spared them a costly court battle to remove the religious symbol from William & Mary?s Wren Chapel.
