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UC renamed Sadler Center

11 May 2008 | By Maxim Lott, Flat Hat News Editor | The Flat Hat » news

The University Center will be renamed the Sadler Center, in honor of the retiring Vice President of Student Affairs Sam Sadler ’64, M.Ed. ’71, Rector Michael Powell announced at commencement today.

“There are few buildings on this campus that are frequented more often by students or more recognizable than the University Center,” Powell said. “And there are few individuals who give as much to this College than Sam Sadler. Now, when students enter this building, they will forever be reminded of a man who devoted his life to his alma mater and to this student body. It is with great pleasure that we rename this facility the Sadler Center.”

The newly renamed Sadler Center. Courtesy - wm.edu

Sadler said he felt “overwhelmed” and that the honor came as a total surprise.

“I still can’t get over it,” Sadler said in an interview. “Growing up as I did, the last thing on your mind is that the College would name a building after you. It was deeply special not only because a building was named, but because Michael Powell was a buddy from College.”

Sadler guided the planning and design of the University Center, which was dedicated in 1993, as Chair of the building committee.

Sadler recalled working with the building’s architect, one of the senior partners at Architect’s Collaborative, who asked to live in one of the lodges for a week while the building was in the planning stages so that he could learn about the landscape and local themes.

One particularly memorable event for Sadler occurred when an alumnus received a commission to sculpt a bronze statue of two bald Eagles and donated it to the new building. Sadler said they soon found that the floor would not be able to support the statue, so a new, thin marble base was designed.

The construction of the UC had also caused controversy, Sadler said, especially related to the nearby wildflower refuge that is on lower ground and could have suffered from drainage problems caused by the new building. He said they worked hard to resolve the issue.

Sadler said that the building was a success.

“It really has become the gathering spot for the campus,” Sadler said. “It has transformed the space that students have.”

Interim President W. Taylor Reveley III agreed.

“This building serves the College in so many important ways. It really is central to student life and campus events — much like our friend and colleague Sam Sadler,” he said. “Having Sam’s name forever linked to it will be a source of great pride for us all.”

1. What an amazing way to remember an amazing Tribesman. Kudos to Sam Sadler and to the future of the Sadler Center…can we start calling it the SC now?

   
   — Adam Rosen    May 11, 07:55 PM    #

2. Wouldn’t the Campus Center have been more appropriate?

   
   — Alex Kyrios    May 11, 08:56 PM    #

3. Uggh…for a building that’s so frequently used by students, it would be nice to have the University Center named after someone who, you know, liked students.

   
   — Student    May 11, 08:56 PM    #

4. That was an amazing idea! We’re all going to miss Sam Sadler greatly, and this seems like quite an appropriate way to remember him.

   
   — Charlotte Reeves    May 11, 09:37 PM    #

5. As much as I think this is a great idea, I think it was horribly implemented. The Sadler Center? It sounds more like a convention center than a “UC”. It should have been named something like the Sadler University Center, though I guess the acronym is unfortunate for that choice.

   
   — student    May 12, 11:01 AM    #

6. The UC is a convention center. The basement is the only truly “student” space.

   I’m not a terribly big fan of the arrangement, but it pays the bills.

   I also agree that “The Sadler University Center” or “The Sadler Campus Center” sounds a lot better.

   (Also, #3: What is your basis for claiming that Sam disliked students? That seems like a pretty outlandish statement to make.)

   
   — andrew    May 12, 11:22 AM    #

7. Andrew-

   Sam Sadler:

   -wrote the student handbook to give himself (the VP of student affaris) the power to sign off on warrants

   -worked to get his old fraternity kicked off campus after promising to do everything in his power to keep them on campus

   -participated in the Alcohol Task Force which made it virtually impossible to legally host a party on campus

   -implemented the Bias Reporting System where anyone could lodge an anonymous complaint about anyone else

   I don’t want to turn this into an attack on Sam’s family, but his wife also crossed party lines to install Dave Andrews as Williamsburg registrar. Mr. Andrews was both corrupt and notoriously anti-student.

   
   — Student    May 12, 02:19 PM    #

8. Amazing.
   As for what it should be called now, I feel like SC doesn’t really roll off the tongue. Perhaps, “Hey, you wanna go grab lunch at Sadler?” or maybe, “Hey, you wanna go to the Sad?” would sound better?

   
   — Wrengate    May 13, 01:53 AM    #

9. His position is a difficult one, and I imagine that he’s had to make a lot of very tough calls over the course of his career.

   The things you make reference to are almost all decisions which were made by multiple individuals, and would have almost certainly taken place whether or not he agreed to them.

   You’ve got to know how to play politics, and know how to choose your battles. Sometimes it’s necessary to make a few concessions in order to maintain the better good, as I’m sure one certain recently-departed member of the administration can now attest to.

   I can’t say that I fully support every action he ever took while in his position, though it’s fairly difficult to call him anti-student, considering he spent the vast majority of his career as the sole student advocate in the upper-levels of the administration.

   Or would you have preferred one of the patronizing folks in the dean of students office had his job instead?

   
   — andrew    May 13, 12:55 PM    #

10. Let’s break these down even further:

    -“wrote the student handbook to give himself (the VP of student affairs) the power to sign off on warrants”

    In then-President Nichol’s e-mail announcing Sadler’s resignation, Nichol said that Sadler “literally wrote the Student Handbook”. It’s pretty obvious that Sadler had great influence in writing the student handbook which coincidentally gives the Vice President for Student Affairs a very broad range of power. The handbook is also extremely vague and in fact the Dean of Students office used the “failure to comply” rule to override constitutional protections against self-incrimination. It took Sadler two years to put an end to this practice.

    -“worked to get his old fraternity kicked off campus after promising to do everything in his power to keep them on campus”

    Sadler promised to do whatever it took to keep Pi Lam on campus. While they might have been kicked off despite Sadler’s objection, Sadler wrote a stinging e-mail to Pi Lam alumni explaining how bad the current fraternity was. Eventually, they were kicked off because of a technicality in turning housing forms in late. Certainly Sadler could have prevented that.

    -“participated in the Alcohol Task Force which made it virtually impossible to legally host a party on campus”

    Sure others were involved in this, but you’d think since there is such backlash in the student body about the ATF’s recommendations, Sadler could have used his authority to say “let’s look at how to revise this”. This has never happened.

    -“implemented the Bias Reporting System where anyone could lodge an anonymous complaint about anyone else”

    Sadler’s spoken with great pride about the Bias Reporting System which has been criticized by top law professor William Van Alstyne. Van Alstyne said th system contained “politically-‘skewed’ codes of conduct [that] are seriously misguided (and, I think, frankly embarrassing to universities which endlessly contrive to take the ‘correct’ stance on all sorts of matters…).”” The backlash against the Bias Reporting System was so strong that it got heavily revised and is almost non-existent today.

    “I don’t want to turn this into an attack on Sam’s family, but his wife also crossed party lines to install Dave Andrews as Williamsburg registrar. Mr. Andrews was both corrupt and notoriously anti-student.”

    I don’t know if Mary Liz Sadler had other reasons for supporting Dave Andrews but it’s pretty damn bad to cross party lines to support someone who not only embezzled money from the registrar’s office and city of Williamsburg but notoriously lost student voter registration forms and did everything in his power to keep students from registering to vote.

    “Or would you have preferred one of the patronizing folks in the dean of students office had his job instead?”

    It would be great to get somebody more technocratic in the position. I felt that Ginger Ambler did a fine job filling in for Sadler when he was out for his surgery. As for the Dean of Students office, I don’t think it is fair to call all of their employees “patronizing”. I’ve had good experiences with them when they’ve helped me with paperwork and some complex questions.

    I also have a few other examples of Sadler’s lack of commitment to the student body but I can’t say them publicly because they are somewhat speculative (though I’m 99% sure Sadler is involved) or involve student organizations that would prefer to keep their workings with Sadler private.

    
    — Student    May 13, 02:24 PM    #

11. Wow, you’re really a rebel without a cause, aren’t you?
    Sam was a great man. He always took the time to talk to students, and would answer your individual emails if you wrote him (and considering how many he probably got a day I was astounded).
    What is the axe you really have to grind? We never have a ton of parties here, we’re kind of infamous for it, the student handbook is a necessary evil (and if you try to follow a few simple rules you’ll have no problems with it), and he’s just an overall amazing guy.
    Were you in the rejected frat or something?

    
    — senior    May 16, 08:49 AM    #

12. Ha, I have nothing to do with that frat.

    I just think that people should be held accountable for their actions and shouldn’t be universally revered by a cult of personality when it’s undeserving.

    
    — Student    May 16, 12:40 PM    #

13. I’m pretty sure I will always call it the UC.

    
    — Mike    May 17, 01:58 AM    #