Forget offense, it didn't make sense - it was a non-sequitur. I have not heard race or gender to be a factor in the current problem at UVA. (Yes, the fired president is a woman, but I have not heard anyone mention her gender as part of the firing.)
UVA is a crown jewel of Virginia's old boy network. The first woman president, well-liked and not an old boy, is fired by the business college for no legitimate reason. This couldn't be any more blatant.
> And he reassured them that sharp, trustworthy people were handling the transition process: “And you should be comforted by the fact that both the Rector and Vice Rector, Helen Dragas and Mark Kington are Darden alums,”
"Old Boy" network indeed. The discrimination is not her gender but her provenance (which is that, not being a Darden alum, she is not under the control of the Darden alum pecking order)