A specialist in constitutional law, he served as president of the University of Virginia (1985-1990) and created the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, whose director he became (1990-2010).
[5] He married Karen Elson, who would teach English and direct college counseling at St. Anne's-Belfield School in Charlottesville, Virginia.
[4] From 1963 to 1967, O'Neil taught at Berkeley, then accepted a position as law professor at SUNY/Buffalo, where he also became executive assistant to president Martin Myerson.
[4] He held the chairmanship of several organizations, including the National Association of State Universities, Land-Grant Colleges, and the boards of directors of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government.
[4] O’Neil has written numerous articles for law reviews and other journals and is the author of several books, including: