Spanberger suggests reforming, removing politics from college boards
Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger speaks at a Monroe Park rally on Nov. 3. Photo by Burke Loftus.
Andrew Kerley, Executive Editor
Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger criticized incumbent Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin last month for bringing politics into Virginia colleges and universities throughout his term, and suggested reforms to the appointment system for boards of visitors.
“The governor’s role is to appoint people,” Spanberger said in an interview with The Washington Post. “That’s it. That’s how it’s always been, until recently.”
Universities in Virginia are governed by boards of visitors made up of 16 members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the General Assembly. The boards hold the power to budget, hire and fire presidents, shape university policy and approve course curricula for their respective schools.
VCU’s board members are currently all appointees of Youngkin. The board’s actions throughout the Republican’s term have included voting to cancel a planned core curriculum requirement to reach students about race and racism, as well as ending Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.
Spanberger has a reputation as a staunch moderate who reached across party lines as a representative in Congress. Now, with Democrats set to hold a legislative trifecta and an expanded majority in the General Assembly come January, Spanberger wants to do away with governors’ involvement in the governance of public universities past the appointment process.
Spanberger told The Post she would not weigh in on board decisions the way Youngkin did, and would largely not interact with board members after appointing them. She also said the incoming Democrat-controlled General Assembly should tighten the timing between the appointment and confirmation of board members.
Governors typically appoint four members each year — giving them complete control by the end of their four-year terms. Governors announce appointments over the summer between academic years, and the General Assembly gets a chance to confirm or reject them when it returns to the Capitol every January.
Virginia Senate Democrats started a months-long legal battle over the summer after they rejected 22 of Youngkin’s appointees to George Mason University, Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia.
Republicans argued a single Senate committee did not have the power to reject appointments without the approval of the full General Assembly — though the courts agreed with the Democrats.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell previously suggested they were looking into changes to the board appointment process of their own, including requiring that appointees be confirmed by the General Assembly before they assume their seats.
Surovell also mentioned the idea of extending appointees’ terms from four to six years, which would prevent any one governor from achieving full control over the 16-member boards by the end of their term.
Spanberger’s transition team did not respond to multiple requests for comment by this story’s publication date.
First-year psychology graduate student Kaitlyn Lee said whichever political party is in office should not be influencing universities, especially on direct policies instated by boards of visitors.
Lee decried the VCU board’s rejection of the racial literacy requirement in particular — which was worked on for years by students and faculty before being struck down.
Youngkin had only appointed half the board members at the time — though his education secretary requested to view course syllabi for the racial literacy requirement ahead of the vote. Multiple board members expressed confusion on what the requirement actually was on the day it was voted on.
“It should be very much driven by what the school needs, what the students need, what the faculty need,” Lee said. “And that should not necessarily be driven by the person in office.”
Lee said she hopes Spanberger will not go down the same route Youngkin did after she takes office on Jan. 17, and will stay out of schools’ business.
“Hopefully she can stand strong with that, and also not intervene on her side too,” Lee said.
Spanberger won’t have to be as involved because the schools are already going in the direction she would want them to go. The Democrat controlled legislature will pass and she will sign bills that do what she wants in schools without having her direct fingerprints on schools. Teachers tend to at least lean leftward, so there will be little opposition to the Democrat laws.