by James A. Bacon
A year ago, University of Virginia Board member Bert Ellis was called to task for referring — in private text to two fellow board members — to his UVA critics as “numnuts.” He also referred to unnamed employees in President Jim Ryan’s office as “shmucks,” and expressed disappointment in the leadership of then-Rector Whitt Clement. The pejoratives, which were mild compared to the accusations of racism and homophobia to which he had been subjected, were deemed so insensitive that The Washington Post devoted a full-length article to the topic.
As the minutes of the March 1-3 board meeting laconically recorded, “Mr. Ellis then apologized for the texts; he said they were private and confidential messages that were still out of place.”
This April Thomas DePasquale, an eight-year board veteran, unleashed a torrent of vitriol against Ellis in a series of draft letters distributed to Rector Robert Hardie, former Rector Frank “Rusty” Conner, board Secretary Susan Harris, and perhaps others. (All emails to President Jim Ryan obtained through the Freedom of Information Act were redacted.) After getting feedback, he blasted out to the full board a toned-down version asking for Ellis’ resignation.
Here’s a sampler of DePasquale’s language. These passages come from a preliminary vomiting of thoughts, which he emailed to Harris following his attendance of The Jefferson Council annual meeting the previous evening.
Bert it hard for me to understand what honor you have, I know your taking oveer. The Jefferson Council is funny Bert built , it is have assed at best.
Ellis, a co-founder of The Jefferson Council, was honored at the Council’s Annual Meeting for his contributions to the Council and the University. He had recently garnered attention for insisting upon addressing the status of Jewish students at UVA in a confrontation with Rector Hardie during the March 2024 meeting. He said (typos and all):
Everytime I turned around you were prancing around accepting great praise. The is no honor there was nobravery what was courage’s mouthing off then saying nothing in private the meeting, then voting as a group. Meraculouls the next day you were the lion ,once we went i
DePasquale also was triggered by a student speaker at the annual meeting: an undergraduate student who presented her research into the Jefferson-Hemings paternity controversy.
You broke the basic common sense rules but no better than bringing up a third year who has proven dna not Thomas Jefferson DNA she proven he did not father those children and added value Hennings was a slut. She did curtain calls. It might be worth studying but could not find any support that one is solved. What a great lesson. Nothing proves your not a racist than being a raciwit
You have made clear you lack the skills and basic ethic to serve as a Vistor.You have had chance you are not capable of the Hornor of being a visitor. If I were you and I am not just resign it more pleasant.
Insofar as it is possible to interpret DePasquale’s tortured prose:
The Jefferson Council is “half-assed.”
Ellis “mouthed off.”
There was no honor or courage in what Ellis did.
Ellis lacks the skills and ethics to serve as a Board of Visitors member.
A third-year student did “curtain calls” in speaking about her research into the Jefferson-Hemings controversy. Denying Jefferson’s paternity is “racist.”
DePasquale did delete some of this language from his final letter to the full Board. But that’s not the relevant point of comparison. While Ellis shared his text with at least two others, DePasquale shared his drafts with at least three others: Susan Harris in the initial brain dump, and letter drafts with Rector Hardie and former-Rector Conner.
In a statement to the Post last year, someone speaking for the university said Ellis’ private messages displayed a “disappointing disregard” for “the University’s core values of civil discourse and honor.”
Will it say the same of DePasquale’s private messages?
On April 30, DePasquale did write Ellis to say, “after some thought I should not have demanded you resign.” But he has yet to apologize publicly.
The Board of Visitors meeting scheduled for Thursday and Friday will be DePasquale’s last before he rotates off the board. If he has any of the sense of honor that he claims Ellis does not have, he will ask forgiveness for his intemperate words.