Bacon's Rebellion

Youngkin Appointees Now a Majority in Virginia University Boards

James A. Bacon

by James A. Bacon

With the announcement of his third round of appointees to the governing boards of Virginia’s public universities, Governor Glenn Youngkin has ushered in a new era for higher education in Virginia. For the first time in his two-and-a-half years in office, he will enjoy board majorities to back his priorities of free speech, intellectual diversity and affordable cost of attendance.

However, the nominees face confirmation by the General Assembly early next year, and more forceful advocates for change could face resistance from within universities and their Democratic Party allies in the legislature.

Developments at the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia, where Youngkin appointees enjoy support from well-organized alumni groups, especially bear watching. Old Dominion University could prove to be a wild card as well.

At VMI the appointments represent a clear victory for traditionalists, building on the election of a new slate of board officers in May. John D. Adams, a McGuire Woods attorney from Richmond and 2017 Republican candidate for Attorney General, replaced Tom Watjen, a Northam appointee. Watjen had been a stalwart supporter of Superintendent Cedric T. Wins and the contentious effort to re-make VMI after former Governor Ralph Northam accused VMI of being systemically racist. The new board wins plaudits from alumni offended by the racism epithet, the implementation of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), and what they view as a relaxation of standards.

The implications of a Youngkin-appointed Board at the University of Virginia, by contrast, are unclear. UVA Rector Robert D. Hardie, a Northam appointee, has not stepped down, and there is uncertainty about how committed the new Board will be to challenging the administration of President Jim Ryan. Although Youngkin and close advisers have signaled their unhappiness with the politicized social-justice agenda at Virginia’s flagship university, the Governor declined to appoint Joel Gardner, a UVA alumnus whose passionate advocacy and deep knowledge of the University would have made him a force to be reckoned with on the Board.

Also worth watching is Stanley Goldfarb, a University of Pennsylvania alumnus and founder of the Do No Harm organization opposed to “gender-affirming” care, DEI and racial preferences at hospitals and medical schools nationally. His appointment at ODU comes on the heels of the university’s merger with the Eastern Virginia Medical School.

Virginia Military Institute. Nowhere has the battle for the soul of a public university in Virginia been more contentious than at VMI. With the support of board leadership, Superintendent Wins implemented policies to expunge alleged racism and implement a kinder, gentler culture at the military institute. The changes outraged traditionalists committed to VMI traditions such as the drum-out ceremony for Honor Code violators and the character-building institutions of the Rat Line and Barracks system. Policy disagreements morphed into battles over process as traditionalists fought over transparency, autonomy of The Cadet student newspaper, and governance of the alumni association.

The past year has seen a change in tone at the top, however, as Thomas “Teddy” Gottwald, CEO of the Richmond-based New Market Corp., showed himself to be unafraid of confrontation and willing to ask penetrating questions. Acknowledging the political realities of the impending Youngkin majority, the Board voted May to pass on the torch of leadership.

Watjens was gracious in the hand-off. “I’ve been fortunate to have served as the president of VMI’s Board of Visitors these past three years and I am very proud of what our board has accomplished during this time,” he said. “It’s clear to me, though, it is time to pass that responsibility along to the next generation of board leadership and I fully support the board’s decision to elect John Adams ’96 as our next president. I look forward to serving the remainder of my term on the board and supporting the Institute in any way possible.”

The newly appointed board members include:

None of the recommendations advanced by the VMI Alumni Associations, which are tightly aligned with the administration, made the cut. Janis, a forceful conservative voice in the General Assembly during his legislative career and critic of the VMI administration, will be especially interesting to watch.

“I could not be more pleased,” said Matt Daniel, legislative liaison for the Spirit of Virginia PAC, representing conservative VMI alumni. VMI had been moving in the right direction even before the new appointments, he said. All the new board nominees are solid. There was no drama in the leadership turnover, and the new members make the board even stronger.

University of Virginia. Although Youngkin appointees now dominate the UVA Board 13 to 4, Northam holdovers Robert Hardie and Carlos Brown stay on as rector and vice rector respectively. Unlike Watjen, Hardie has not stepped down to “pass responsibility to the next generation of board leadership.” Hardie has clashed publicly with Board member Bert Ellis over the issue of antisemitism at the University, and he remained silent this spring when outgoing Northam appointee Tom DePasquale shared a draft of a letter calling for Ellis’ resignation and, after input by the Board secretary, distributed the letter to the Board. Hardie has suppressed serious discussion of critical issues facing the University such as runaway costs, rising cost of attendance, racial preferences, antisemitism, the creeping intellectual monoculture, and the size and scope of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion bureaucracy.

The new appointees include:

The Jefferson Council, an alumni organization of which I am contributing editor, is still digesting the implications of these appointments. We know Gilliam and Okonkwo, whom we regard favorably, but are unfamiliar with the other three.

Our primary concern is the Youngkin administration’s decision to not appoint Joel Gardner, whom we believed had a great shot at the nomination.

“The Governor made a huge mistake not appointing Joel Gardner to the Board in this round,” said Jefferson Council President Tom Neale. “We need fighters on the BOV and Joel would have been a superb ally. The fact that he was courted and discarded at the 11th hour is very distressing.”

Gardner, a retired attorney and investment banker, has raised millions of dollars for the University, served on four UVA-affiliated boards and, among his more notable contributions, participated on the Ryan-designated committee that drafted a free speech policy for UVA. Gardner authored a book about UVA during the Vietnam War protests and penned a 2022 article for The Martin Center, “UVA and the New “McCarthyism”–An Insider’s Perspective,” arguably the most authoritative critique yet written of leftist intolerance, DEI, and institutional bias at UVA. During the past year he has spent hundreds of hours behind the scenes connecting with fellow Jews in the UVA community and combating the antisemitism arising from the pro-Palestinian rallies and encampment.

Youngkin had seriously considered appointing Gardner in 2023 but opted out at the last minute. Local media picked up on scuttlebutt of his interest in the position, which put him on the radar screen of vested interests and their ideological allies opposed to reform. We have been told that there was an orchestrated smear campaign at the last minute this year to block his nomination. The fact that Gardner, who served on the free expression committee, has been denied a seat on the Board is symptomatic of the aversion to viewpoint diversity at UVA.

Old Dominion University. The biggest surprise to me, as a long-time observer of Virginia higher education, was the appointment of Stanley Goldfarb to the board of Old Dominion University. I have profiled Goldfarb and his Do No Harm group on Bacon’s Rebellion. (See “How Wokeism Is Ruining Medicine.”) Goldfarb contends that the ideology of intersectional oppression is replacing science across the field of medicine, starting in the medical schools and percolating down to the professional associations and hospitals. He is particularly critical of racial preferences in medicine and the practice of “affirmative” care for transgender youth in the form of hormonal treatment and surgery. His views have made him a lightning rod in the medical field, and his appointment at ODU is sure to be criticized. I have no insight into whether he will be welcomed or pilloried by fellow board members and/or university and med school administrators.

VCU: As a sidelight, Ken Lipstock, a Richmond ophthalmologist who has been actively involved with Do No Harm locally, was appointed to the Virginia Commonwealth University Board of Visitors.

SCHEV: One more change to watch: the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Walter Curt, a James Madison University grad, entrepreneur and ally of Youngkin, has been serving on the board of SCHEV, the statewide oversight board for higher education, since 2022. A vocal critic of wokeness and cost increases in Virginia higher ed, he has been rendered powerless in a Northam-dominated board. Expect big changes in how SCHEV operates if a Youngkin majority appoints him as chair.

James A. Bacon is former executive director of the Jefferson Council and currently contributing editor.

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