It’s starting to dawn on the general public that what I’ve been reporting since the spring about Abigail Spanberger having the legal authority as governor to fire en masse the MAGAs on the UVA Board of Visitors was spot on all along.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch published a piece over the weekend noting that the topic was a hot one at a recent event in Richmond hosted by the Virginia Press Association, quoting David Ramadan, a former Republican state delegate and now professor at George Mason, saying straight up that Spanberger will have the power as governor to remove current BOV members at UVA, Mason and elsewhere.
“I don’t think she’s bound to follow the old norms when you’re in an era of new norms,” Ramadan said, per the T-D report.
Yeah.
I reported that back in March, upon the move by Glenn Youngkin, the lame-duck MAGA governor, to remove Bert Ellis, my politics-makes-for-strange-bedfellows buddy, from his seat on the UVA Board of Visitors.
ICYMI
Ellis, a double-‘Hoo who made his billions in the broadcasting sector, gave me valuable insight into the plans of the MAGA majority to move fast to undo the moves undertaken under Teresa Sullivan and her successor, Jim Ryan, to move the University to the left culturally.
The move fast mantra, to Ellis, was based on his assumption that Spanberger was a safe bet to win the governor’s race in November, and that Spanberger, a Democrat, would use her power to fire BOV members to remake the UVA Board in one fell swoop.
Ellis started laying out the MAGA plan to try to run an end-around on Spanberger last fall as we traded emails about UVA Football.
Ellis was removed from the BOV on March 26; the remaining MAGA majority on the Board was able, over the next couple of months, to complete the job of getting rid of Ryan with the help of the Trump Department of Justice, which pressured Ryan into resigning in June, at the point of threatening to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in federal education funds.
ICYMI
- Jim Ryan explains decision to step down as UVA president: ‘Real and direct harm’
- Jim Ryan tells all: ‘What did the Governor know, when did he know it?’
The BOV then initiated a fast-track presidential search that ended with the Dec. 19 appointment of Scott Beardsley, the dean of the Darden School, and a consultant to the Carlyle Group, of which Youngkin was the co-CEO before stepping down in 2020 to run for governor.
Spanberger had advised the Board in November to “refrain” from naming a new president until she took office in January, after raising issue with the “legitimacy” of the search, given the political climate.
ICYMI
- Spanberger tells UVA Board of Visitors to hit pause on presidential search
- MAGAs on UVA Board of Visitors make attempt to name new president
Beardsley is set to take office on Jan. 1; if I’m him, I wouldn’t be measuring the drapes in Madison Hall, and considering that he let himself get co-opted into this MAGA power grab, I might be polishing up the resume, because it’s not like he’s going to be allowed back at Darden when this is all said and done.
Video: Don’t measure the drapes
Support AFP
Share
Chris Graham
