Pragmatic or Partisan--Quo Vadis Governor-elect Spanberger
Governor-elect Spanberger states that she wants to have an administration that reflects pragmatism rather than partisanship. But her Democrat colleagues in the state senate have already exhibited a degree of partisanship vis-à-vis UVA and other state universities unparalleled in the history of the Commonwealth. A standing committee of the state senate has rejected the last five appointees to the UVA Board of Visitors solely because they were chosen by a Republican governor. While the ability of a committee to act on behalf of the entire General Assembly is now in front of the Virginia Supreme Court, it really doesn't matter because the Democrat leadership of the state senate has stated that they will flat out reject any appointee made by Governor Youngkin. By contrast, for decades when Republicans held either one or both houses of the General Assembly they never once rejected a Democrat governor's choice for the UVA Board.
Under the past two Democrat governors, UVA had become a highly politicized institution. This was done under the rubric of so called "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" which as Anthony Kronman, the former Dean of the Yale Law School, has said is "a political campaign masquerading as an educational ideal." In addition, during this period, the UVA faculty and administration became less and less intellectually diverse, resulting in a true political echo chamber on Grounds. In a display of ultimate hypocrisy, the Democrats have taken the position that attempts to depoliticize the University and increase intellectual diversity are partisan and political--when in fact they are nothing more than attempts to attain the academic ideal of a level playing field for the free and civil exchange of ideas.
Our concern is that whether or not Spanberger wants to run a partisan administration, the extreme partisans in her party will push her to once again politicize UVA with agenda based appointees who couldn't give a fig about intellectual diversity or the level playing field. The opportunity to have a UVA where students and faculty don't feel intimidated to speak their minds and where the emphasis is on education rather than indoctrination may well evaporate and diverse opinions may be as difficult to locate on Grounds as a Republican in the City of Charlottesville.
