UVA president search update | Faculty group wants a search committee do-over

A group of faculty members at UVA are asking the people appointed to a special committee related to the search for a new president to initiate a do-over.

“The committee does not represent the University’s key constituencies. Students, faculty, staff and residents of Charlottesville have been excluded from any real decision-making authority. With the major University governing bodies — the Faculty Senate, General Faculty Council and Staff Senate — having had no hand in selecting their own representatives, this committee was formed in violation of principles of shared governance and student self-governance,” the Faculty Committee of the United Campus Workers of Virginia-UVA Chapter wrote in a letter to members of the Special Committee on the Nomination of a President, which was established last month by the UVA Board of Visitors.

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ICYMI

• Faculty, staff groups at UVA pushing Board of Visitors on forced departure of Jim Ryan

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The whole search committee thing seems like a wasted effort anyway, with Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly – and the heavy favorite in the 2025 governor’s race, Abigail Spanberger – making it clear that the current MAGA majority on the Board of Visitors is about to go the way of the dodo.

The MAGA majority, installed over the past three years by the MAGA governor, Glenn Youngkin, forced long-time UVA President Jim Ryan out in June, with help from the Trump Department of Justice.

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ICYMI

• Jim Ryan explains decision to step down as UVA president: ‘Real and direct harm’

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The Board of Visitors has installed law professor Paul G. Mahoney as the interim president, as it has launched the effort, to be guided by the presidential search committee, to identify a permanent successor to Ryan – which seems doomed, given the tight time frame of the election, which is 10 weeks away, the inauguration of the next governor in January, and the clear direction on where things are going to go moving forward given by Democrats in Richmond.

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ICYMI

• UVA names veteran law professor Paul Mahoney new interim president

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The United Campus Workers of Virginia-UVA Chapter is asking the members of the presidential search committee to pledge to resign from the committee, and to support its reconstitution through an open, democratic and representative process.

“By supporting the reconstitution of the Special Committee on the Nomination of a President, you will affirm your commitment to the people, work and values of the University,” the faculty members wrote in their letter to committee members, which requests a response by Sept. 5.

“You will assert your faith in the independence of this institution and help stop a series of events that have destabilized the University,” the letter goes on. “As currently constituted, this presidential search committee will cause irreparable material, reputational and existential damage to the University. This damage would be the legacy of your participation on this committee.”