The search for the University of Virginia’s 10th president presses on, even as calls on and off Grounds grow louder demanding it be suspended.
Underway since August, the search has faced tremendous pushback from officials near and far, including the Faculty Senate and Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, over its credibility as both the school’s rector, Rachel Sheridan, and vice rector, Porter Wilkinson, appear to have been in at least some way involved in the Trump administration’s pressure campaign to force out the 9th president, Jim Ryan, over his diversity policies.
Spanberger calls on UVa to pause search for next president
Abigail Spanberger has called on UVa to halt its search for a new president, arguing the university’s board lacks the stability to make such a consequential decision.
In addition, the board now tasked with hiring a new president is not only short five members, but those members who do have seats were all appointed by sitting Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican credited with creating the perfect storm that led to Ryan’s departure in July.
Joining that chorus of voices calling for the search to be suspended is nine of the university’s 14 academic deans.
The deans wrote in a Dec. 1 letter to the school’s governing Board of Visitors that they fear that any new president selected would be hired without adequate vetting and due diligence and, moreover, that the board lacks “a clear foundation of institutional legitimacy.”
It echoes many of the same points as a letter Spanberger sent shortly after she was elected in November. Spanberger told school officials it would be best to wait to find a new president after she fills the remaining empty seats on the Board of Visitors. She added that a full 17-member board would “provide credibility to the search process, ensure that the next president benefits from having been chosen in a credible and transparent process, and remove any concern that the board’s actions are illegitimate due to a lack of authority.”
But UVa has not relented. The Board of Visitors has pushed for the search to continue and the presidential search committee has maintained its work “has been conducted with rigor, fairness, and integrity thus far.”
In a November statement, the university announced the first round of interviews had been completed privately but the search committee has additional steps to take before narrowing the candidate pool and selecting its finalists to present to the Board of Visitors.
The deans’ letter
The deans’ message to the board was that “the risks of a quick appointment far outweigh any benefits” and that the board should wait until it establishes “conditions of trust necessary for a president’s success.”
“A president appointed amidst the current swirl of unresolved governance questions would start their tenure under a cloud. Their legitimacy would be questioned by many within and beyond our community, and their mandate and effectiveness would be compromised,” the letter reads.
The letter was signed by:
* Christa Acamporа, dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.
* Marianne Baernholdt, dean of the School of Nursing.
* Philip Bourne, dean of the School of Data Science.
* Malo Hutson, dean of the School of Architecture.
* Leo Lo, dean of Libraries.
* Melissa Lubin, dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies.
* Stephanie Rowley, dean of the School of Education and Human Development.
* Ian H. Solomon, dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.
* And Jennifer West, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Deans who did not sign the letter include:
* Scott Beardsley, dean of the Darden School of Business.
* Amanda Cowen, interim dean of the McIntire School of Commerce.
* Colin Derdeyn, interim dean of the School of Medicine.
* Gregory Fairchild, dean of UVa Northern Virginia.
* And Leslie Kendrick, dean of the School of Law.
Face to face
The protest over the search got up close and personal at the Board of Visitors’ Dec. 5 meeting, held off Grounds at the Boar’s Head Resort west of Charlottesville.
More than two dozen protesters, some sporting bright red United Campus Workers shirts, showed up to the meeting holding up yellow signs with black letters reading, “NO CONFIDENCE, NO NEW PRESIDENT,” and black signs bearing the word “RESIGN” in white.
Prior to arriving at the meeting, the protesters met on Grounds to demand the presidential search be halted, Sheridan resign and the search committee prioritize a candidate who supports collective bargaining for university employees.
While the board has a history of ignoring demonstrations during meetings, the Dec. 5 meeting was different.
Sheridan and interim President Paul Mahoney both addressed the criticism that has been lobbed at the board since Ryan’s departure, though framing it in the context of broad political unrest on Grounds and across the country.
Sitting at the hump of a U-shaped configuration of tables, Sheridan began by highlighting the board’s achievements over the past semester.
“I also want to take a moment to address some less joyful and more concerning recent events, which are really sadly aimed to paralyze everyone’s efforts to do what’s right for UVa,” she said, reading from her computer.
Sheridan said the Oct. 22 agreement between UVa and the Trump Department of Justice — which led to the DOJ dropping multiple investigations into discrimination at the school and many believe was predicated on Ryan’s resignation — has led to a “dramatic rise in divisive politics.” That division gets in the way of the university’s mission and the board’s work, she said.
“She’s talking about us,” Ian Mullins, a sociology professor and member of the UVa chapter of the United Campus Workers Virginia, said to the protesters after the meeting went into a closed session to discuss the presidential search. “We will not be ignored, and we are going to keep coming back. Yeah, they can call us divisive all they want. They can criticize us in the press or to their country club fellows, but we want a more democratic UVa and we’re going to fight to get it.”
What’s next?
The timing of the protest, the search and the changing of the guard in Richmond means that a lot, or nothing, could happen in the next four weeks. But others are proactively preparing for the selection of a new president.
“We’re worried about this board appointing a president before Spanberger takes office,” Mullins told The Daily Progress while the Board of Visitors was in closed session.
Spanberger is set to move into the Executive Mansion on Jan. 17, not long after UVa’s Christmas break.
“And that’s why we’re here … when students, staff and faculty go away for holiday, that’s when they make decisions,” Walt Heinecke, a professor in the School of Education and the immediate past president of UVa’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, added.
Heinecke said he’s expecting the worst out of the board.
“Be prepared to see some possible legal action. This fight’s not over and it may go in that direction,” he said.
Also girding for the worst: the Faculty Senate.
The Senate passed a resolution last Friday warning the board that any presidential candidate chosen at this time would not have its endorsement.
The resolution says that any individual selected for the presidency under the current search timeline “should be aware they will not assume their position with the confidence of the Faculty Senate if hired as UVA’s tenth president.”
The resolution, passed in a 44-10 vote with two abstentions, adds that finalists are invited to join in calling for a pause to the search to allow for additional deliberation and due diligence.
The goal of the search committee has been to narrow the field of candidates down to roughly three finalists, after which the Board of Visitors will make the final decision.
The presidential search committee conducted the first round of interviews with candidates roughly a month ago. The interviews were conducted in private to protect the confidentiality of the individuals, many of whom are currently serving in leadership roles at other institutions.
The search committee met last Thursday to discuss candidates primarily in closed session.
Sheridan at the meeting said further interviews with candidates would be taking place over the next 15 days.
The rest of the meeting was conducted in closed session. The committee has set two more meetings, for this Friday and Jan. 6.
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