Spanberger appoints new members to UVA, George Mason and VMI boards

Gov. Abigail Spanberger appointed 10 new members to the 17-member Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia within hours of being sworn in as Virginia’s first female governor, and she announced new boards at George Mason University and the Virginia Military Institute. The day before, she had asked five UVA board members, all appointees of her Republican predecessor, Gov.

Glenn Youngkin, to step aside. Conservative members of the board, in alliance with the Trump administration, had moved last summer to remove James E. Ryan from the university presidency largely because of his support for diversity initiatives, and more recently the Youngkin-appointed board signed an agreement with the Trump administration to eliminate diversity programs and to follow the administration’s prescriptions for admissions.

Over Ms. Spanberger’s objection, the board rushed to replace Mr. Ryan before she was inaugurated and gave Scott C. Beardsley a five-year contract to serve as president. There were already five vacancies on the board because Democrats in the state legislature had refused to approve some of Mr.

Youngkin’s appointees, leaving Ms. Spanberger with 10 slots to fill. New UVA members include Carlos Brown, Peter Grant and Victoria Harker; Brown and Harker have previously served on the Board of Visitors. At George Mason, she appointed 12 new members, including Tom Davis; the George Mason board chairman, Charles Stimson, had submitted his resignation.

Key Topics

Politics, Abigail Spanberger, George Mason University, Virginia Military Institute, Glenn Youngkin