Chancellor of the College of William & Mary

The chancellor of the College of William & Mary is the ceremonial head of the college, chosen by the university's Board of Visitors. The office was created by the college's Royal Charter, which stipulated that the chancellor would serve a seven-year term. Henry Compton, Bishop of London, was named in the Charter as the college's first chancellor.Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Sandra Day O'Connor served as chancellor from 2005 until 2012 when Robert Gates assumed the office. He was installed as chancellor on February 3, 2012.

The college's charter, granted in 1693 by King William III and Queen Mary II, provided for the office of chancellor, and during the colonial period the chancellor served as the college's representative to the British Crown and the British government. Many of the pre-Revolutionary War chancellors were either Bishops of London or Archbishops of Canterbury and served as a link between the college and the government in London. They would also help recruit faculty to come to Virginia and teach at the college. However, none of these chancellors ever set foot in Williamsburg.

With the outbreak of the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence, the ties between the College of William & Mary and England were severed, leaving the position of chancellor vacant until 1788. Other ties with England, such as the money from the Brafferton Estate which funded the Indian School, were also severed.

Thomas Jefferson wished to alter the office of the chancellor after the American Revolution. In 1776, Jefferson proposed a system that included three chancellors, elected from the leading men of Virginia and who would have the power to remove faculty, in place of a single chancellor. His reforms did not pass, and the office of chancellor remained vacant until 1788.

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