New York Times: University of Virginia’s Board Names a New President
The University of Virginia’s Republican-controlled board voted Friday to appoint a new president weeks before a Democratic governor assumes power, a move that comes six months after the campus was rocked when its previous president resigned under pressure from the Trump administration.
The board appointed Scott C. Beardsley, the longtime dean of the university’s Darden School of Business, at a time when the leadership of Virginia’s flagship public university has become a political issue.
The governor-elect, Abigail Spanberger, has been critical of the university’s Board of Visitors, saying it appeared to capitulate to the Trump administration’s demands to oust its previous president, James E. Ryan. She had demanded the selection be delayed until after her inauguration on Jan. 17.