Youngkin Fires Ellis
Governor Glenn Youngkin has fired Bert Ellis from the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, terminating the most outspoken member of the board supporting his goals of reining in tuition, promoting free speech and intellectual diversity, and eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from the University’s policies and practices.
The Governor asked for Ellis’ resignation several says ago, but Ellis made it clear he would not resign — the Governor would have to fire him. The Governor repeated his request in a meeting with Ellis yesterday, and Ellis declined again.
“It is with sadness that I remove you as a member of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors,” Youngkin wrote in a brief statement explaining his action. “While I thank you for your hard work, your conduct on many occasions has violated the Commonwealth’s Code of Conduct for our Boards and Commissions and the Board of Visitors Statement of Visitor Responsibilities.
UPDATE
This evening Ellis issued a press release warning Youngkin, who had declared last week that “DEI is done” at UVA, that the battle to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion from the University was far from over. “Governor Youngkin should reverse his decision so we can hold the University President Jim Ryan accountable, ensure that common sense returns to UVA by ending DEI for good, stopping antisemitism, and reducing costs at the university.” (Read the full statement here.)
Update
An hour later, Youngkin announced that he intended to appoint former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cucinelli to the board in Ellis’ place. (See full text below.)
The state code gives Virginia’s Governor power to remove board members from office for “malfeasance, misfeasance, incompetence, or gross neglect of duty.” It also states that the Governor shall set forth his or her reasons in a written public statement. “The governor is the sole judge of the sufficiency of the cause for removal.”
The letter did not cite any actions or statements that warranted firing. When asked for specifics, Youngkin spokesperson Peter Finocchio said he did not have anything to add to the Governor’s letter.
However, in breaking the story Monday of the Governor’s intentions, The Washington Post referred to police body-cam videos showing Ellis haranguing University of Virginia police in 2023 for not maintaining a more visible presence on the Corner, the retail strip across the street from UVA. The community was in an uproar at the time from a string of homicides in Charlottesville, including a murder and other incidents near the university grounds. I argued yesterday that someone in the Ryan administration at UVA or the Governor’s Office tipped off the Post to the videos as part of a campaign to discredit Ellis.
Ellis, a student leader at UVA, graduated from UVA in 1975. He became a serial entrepreneur and has maintained tight connections with the University ever since. The posting of the infamous “F— UVA” sign on the Lawn in 2020 woke him up to dramatic changes in the University culture since he was there. He was the key organizing force behind the formation of The Jefferson Council, an alumni network dedicated to preserving the Jeffersonian legacy, defending free speech, and fighting for intellectual diversity at an institution that under President Jim Ryan and veered far to the left like most other elite universities in the U.S. (Ellis hired me as executive director of the organization, a job I filled for about a year and a half, and I have always been open about my professional friendship with him.)
When Youngkin took office in 2022, he nominated Ellis and three others in his first round of appointments to the UVA Board of Visitors. According to Ellis, the Governor urged him to take an aggressive stance. That approach was cut short, however, when the Cavalier Daily dug up articles about controversial positions Ellis took, as a tri-president of the Student Union in 1975, regarding speakers at the University. Those articles mushroomed into accusations of racism and homophobia, which, along with other allegations, nearly sank his confirmation in 2023 by the General Assembly. Ellis was instructed to keep a low profile on the UVA Board, which for the most part he did.
There’s no telling what happened in the board’s closed session — which were frequent and during which critical decisions were made — but Ellis abided by the board’s rules of etiquette during open session. The one exception occurred when he demanded that Rector Robert Hardie conduct a discussion of antisemitism at UVA in open session for all the hear. Hardie refused. The confrontation, though brief, was heated. Ironically, Youngkin has made it a priority from the early days of his administration to combat antisemitism statewide, and he pressured the presidents of UVA, Virginia Tech, and Virginia Commonwealth University to crack down on the pro-Palestinian encampments that cropped up in violation of time-manner-use restrictions.
The stated reasons for cashiering Ellis are mystifying. The UVA board requirements can be found here. The only provision that Ellis could conceivably be charged with is to “dutifully serve as a member of the board,” specifically, “work collegially with other visitors, the president, and as appropriate, faculty, students, staff, and other University constituents.”
James A. Bacon is the founder of Bacon’s Rebellion and a contributing editor with The Jefferson Council.
