Bacon's Rebellion

  • Former UVA President’s Sabbatical Raises Governance Questions

    Posted on

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    James A. Bacon

    by Scott Douglas Gerber

    Close-up of a man with a serious expression, standing in front of a University of Virginia backdrop.
    Image credit: Steve Helber/AP

    When former University of Virginia President Jim Ryan recently sat for a friendly interview with Cville Right Now, he sounded delighted to be off the clock. He described mornings spent writing a leadership book; afternoons kite surfing, skiing, golfing, biking and traveling; and he joked, “I’m really good at not working.” The joke lands differently once his sabbatical benefits are understood.

    Ryan’s contract explains why he can afford to “not work” so enthusiastically. When he resigned in June 2025 under pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice — after multiple civil rights investigations into UVA’s DEI practices — he exercised a contractual option to return to the law faculty at 75% of his presidential salary, or $825,000 a year. As I pointed out in RealClearEducation, that figure is so far beyond what other UVA law professors earn that it likely violates the Internal Revenue Code’s prohibition on private inurement, which bars tax exempt institutions from enriching insiders with unreasonable compensation.

    But the sabbatical is even more revealing. Section F.6 of Ryan’s employment agreement states that during his sabbatical he “shall receive his last existing presidential Annual Salary.” That salary was about $1.1 million. The same provision gives him an office, staff support and an annual budget of $50,000 “to be used for research and travel expenses.” In plain terms, UVA is paying Ryan more than a million dollars this year, plus a $50,000 research and travel fund, while he skis, surfs, golfs, travels and writes a trade press book about leadership.

    Sabbaticals are supposed to support serious scholarship. Nothing about the book Ryan describes requires a seven-figure salary and a $50,000 research budget — unless he is paying someone else to write it for him, which I doubt. What it does require is a Board of Visitors willing to treat the university’s resources as a cushion for a powerful man’s soft landing.

    (more…)

  • Sometimes You Have to Create the Racism in Order to Defeat It

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    James A. Bacon

    More details have emerged about the Southern Poverty Law Center’s funding the right-wing extremism it purported to fight. Here’s the updated account, contained in a superseding indictment filed by the Department of Justice, of SPLC Employee-3 who helped organize the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. — JAB

    The SPLC Secretly Paid F-37 More Than $300,000 in Donor’s Money

    i. F-37 was not involved in an extremist organization before F-37 reached out to the SPLC seeking employment.

    ii. While receiving payment by the SPLC, F-37 made multiple racist posts on social media accounts under the supervision of SPLC Employee-3.

    iii. In 2017, F-37 was a member of the online leadership chat group that helped plan the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. SPLC Employee-3 directed F-37 to attend this event in which one woman and two law enforcement officers were tragically killed. F-37 assisted in arranging transportation for others involved in the movement to the event.

    iv. The SPLC extensively covered the “Unite the Right” rally on its various media platforms, both at the time of the rally and in the following years. The “Unite the Right” rally led to a massive fundraising windfall for the SPLC with open-source media reporting that the SPLC more than doubled their previous year’s reported revenue from private and corporation donations following the “Unite the Right” rally. The SPLC did not disclose to its donors that it used donors’ money to pay F-37.

    (more…)

  • Drip, Drip, Drip

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    James A. Bacon

    The truth slowly emerges about what UVA leaders knew about the Health System scandal.

    by The Jefferson Council

    A foggy landscape featuring bare trees in black and white, with a building partially visible in the background.

    A bombshell disclosure in a recent FOIA proceeding reveals that UVA’s Board of Visitors, led by Robert Hardie, quietly retained Williams & Connolly (W&C) as “special counsel to the BOV and the Audit, Compliance, and Risk Committee of the BOV” regarding issues with UVA Health on May 23, 2024 — four months before the September 5th correspondence in which 128 physicians signed a no-confidence letter in UVA Health leadership. You can read the never-previously-disclosed letter of engagement here.

    That timing is significant. By May 2024, the Ryan administration had already received years of complaints, resignation letters, and HR filings involving patient safety, retaliation, and leadership culture. On May 6, 2024 — just seventeen days before W&C was retained — at least three faculty members filed formal reports with Human Resources, resulting in hours of subsequent interviews. UVA certainly did not request special counsel because everything was fine.

    Yet the Ryan administration publicly insisted that UVA Health was being managed responsibly and was in “the best shape it has ever been in.” When the physicians’ no-confidence letter –- documenting significant issues with UVA –- became public on September 5, President Jim Ryan dismissed it two days later as a “strategy” built on “generalized and anonymous claims,” suggesting that a few faculty meetings were sufficient to address the concerns being raised. He accused the physicians of “besmirching” the reputations of UVA Health leadership and casting an unfair “shadow over the great work of the entire health system.”

    (more…)

  • Hurricane Season: Are You Ready?

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    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Satellite image of a large hurricane swirling over ocean waters near land.

    I admit it. After decades in the news business I’m jaded. 

    Bored, too.

    Especially with the tedious, fear-inducing fluff pieces that news outlets sprinkle throughout the year as their reporters obediently attend press conferences and act as stenographers for bureaucrats.

    You know, the stories with ridiculous “safety precautions” published year after year at Halloween that turn trick or treating into a weird evening of parents hovering around kids and forbidding them to eat at single M&M until Mommy and Daddy can examine their sugary booty. (You do know that there’s never been a verified case of a razor blade in apple, right? Yet this single urban legend is trotted out annually.)

    Every July we get the usual warnings about the dangers of backyard fireworks for Independence Day. Apparently, somewhere out there, someone still needs to be told not to look down the business end of a bottle rocket.

    Every August we get the same self-evident tips on surviving a heat wave: dress in light-colored clothing, drink water, stay out of the sun. 

    Yep, somewhere in America there must be idiots who dress in black, march around at noon and refuse to drink water when the temperatures are in triple digits.

    And this, being the first week in June, means state officials will issue stern warnings about hurricane season, which technically started on Monday and lasts until November 30, even though we rarely see a major storm before August. Continue reading.

  • Dodging FOIA at VMI

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    James A. Bacon

    A soldier in a historical uniform is dramatically falling backward amidst flying debris and bullets in an action-packed scene.
    Dodging FOIA bullets a la Matrix. Image credit: Grok

    Bob Morris, a Virginia Military Institute alumni activist, has filed suit in York County Circuit Court against VMI alleging the withholding, redacting, and even altering public records. Here follows a Chat GPT summary based upon a media backgrounder provided by The Cadet, a VMI student newspaper with which Morris is closely affiliated. — JAB

    Core allegations

    The lawsuit alleges that VMI officials and members of its Board of Visitors:

    • Conducted public business through “reply-all” emails and text-message chains that effectively functioned as secret meetings, in violation of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
    • Withheld, redacted, or failed to produce public records related to controversial governance decisions at VMI.
    • Failed to produce records from board member Donald Hall, who allegedly described himself as the “principal negotiator” with state officials regarding VMI matters.
    • Withheld records involving former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, call logs, voicemails, and certain email metadata.
    • Altered a public-records portal entry to conceal the involvement of VMI’s FOIA officer in creating a records request for an outside journalist.
    (more…)

  • Guess Why Norfolk Spent $57,000 to Renovate a Women’s Locker Room

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    James A. Bacon

    The Norfolk Police Department added toilet and shower partitions in its women’s locker room after a trans-identified recruit ogled an undressed female officer.

    by Jordan Jantz
    Republished with permission from IWFeatures

    Instead of protecting female-only spaces, the Norfolk Police Department in Virginia has spent $57,424.95 to “provide toilet partitions, shower drying area partitions and related finish work at shower area of NPD Women’s Locker Room,” allegedly in order to accommodate trans-identified individuals, according to communications obtained by IW Features.

    A letter dated November 30, 2018, discussing the renovation of the women's locker room at Norfolk PD, accompanied by an image of the renovated locker room with a 'Closed for Renovation' sign.

    Previously, the department locker room had only transparent shower curtains, Norfolk Officer Meghan Grabow previously told IW Features. The renovations added dividers and walls to create privacy, but those additions also took up floorspace and divided an already small locker room.

    The renovation came after an alleged incident in the Norfolk PD when a transgender-identified male recruit entered the women’s locker room and stared at Grabow when she was undressed, as IW Features previously reported. The department also allegedly demanded that officers address the male recruit as a female and use female pronouns. When officers attempted to gain clarity, the department reportedly retaliated by suspending officer Grabow and firing officer Martin Powers when he stood with female officers.

    (more…)

  • Crime Rate Down?

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    James A. Bacon

    It depends on where you live.

  • Still Addicted to Opacity in Governance

    Posted on

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    James A. Bacon

    From The Jefferson Council:

    A foggy landscape featuring bare trees in black and white, with a distant building partially obscured by mist.
    Murky, not illicit

    The UVA BOV will have their Quarterly Board Meeting on Thursday and Friday, June 4-5. UVA still has *NOT* published the agenda or Board materials, only a schedule. You can find that here.

    The Quarterly Board meeting will be followed by a retreat on Saturday at Morven, with sessions on:
    *Accountability & Aligned Governance – Board Transition/Governance
    *Affordability & Accessibility–AccessUVA Funding
    *Athletic Competitiveness–Athletics and Funding
    *Advancing Patient Care & Saving Lives – UVA Health – Strategy and Patient Care

    Here’s an idea. How about a session on Transparency and Restoring Public Trust? — JAB

  • Inside the Terror-Linked Program Training Virginia’s Teachers

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    James A. Bacon

    A university program with ties to terrorist organizations gets to influence public school classrooms.

    A smiling woman wearing a hijab and glasses holds up a notebook with 'LESSON 1' written on it, while sitting at a desk with a laptop and a coffee cup.
    Image credit: Restoration News

    by Victoria Manning

    What if a program with ties to terrorist organizations like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood trained your child’s teacher using taxpayer resources? That’s not hypothetical. It’s been happening for years at Virginia’s Shenandoah University—largely operating under the radar.

    The Center for Islam in the Contemporary World (CICW) at Virginia’s Shenandoah University has ties to multiple terrorist organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. CICW founder, M. Yaqub Mirza, was formerly a leader of the SAAR Foundation, a fundraising operation linked to Hamas, Hezbollah, and Al Qaeda. Mirza died in 2025, but the current chairman has his own extremist ties.

    Antisemitic rants, support for terror

    Anti-Jewish Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is the CICW chairman. The day after the October 7th, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas, Ibrahim sided with Hamas terrorists saying, “The confiscation of Palestinian land and property is done relentlessly by the Zionists. As a result of this injustice, hundreds of innocent lives were sacrificed. Malaysia remains in solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people.” Just weeks later Ibrahim led a large “Malaysia Stands with Palestine” rally and called Hamas “freedom fighters.” He urged media outlets not to call Hamas “terrorists.”

    (more…)

  • Wrecked Rectors & Busted Boards

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    James A. Bacon

    A cartoon turkey lying on its back with an arrow through its body, looking surprised and comedic.

    by Gordon C. Morse

    Here’s what John G. Rocovich, former rector of Virginia Tech, wrote to Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger last Thursday:

    “Virginia Tech deserves better than to be made a political football. I have given too much of my life to this institution to stand by silently while its independence is threatened — regardless of which party holds the Governor’s office.”

    That’s the last line in this missive. A political football. Everything that precedes that last line amounts to a primal scream. The letter is easy to find online and worth reading.

    Another line catches your attention: “In the 154-year history of Virginia Tech, dating to its founding in 1872, no Governor of the Commonwealth has ever removed a member of the Board of Visitors for cause.”

    He’s effectively urging a public discussion. He’s right on that. It’s overdue.

    (more…)

  • CDL Carnage Continues

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    James A. Bacon

    A tour bus partially submerged in a grassy area near a highway, showing significant front-end damage.
    Image credit: Yahoo News

    by Kerry Dougherty

    On Friday morning, at 2:35, a charter bus on I-95 south in Stafford county failed to slowdown for a work zone and plowed into an SUV. That SUV rammed an Acura sedan, carrying a family of four. Four other cars were also hit by the bus, before the larger vehicle flipped over, injuring many of the passengers.

    The entire Doncev family was killed in the crash. This family of four were on their way from Massachusetts to a wedding with their Acura trunk full of homemade desserts. Their car burst into flames and the parents, the 13-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were incinerated.

    The driver of the SUV, a 25-year-old woman, was also killed.

    Forty four people were injured, including the driver of the bus, who is facing so many criminal charges that if convicted, will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.

    About that driver.

    We’re told that the man driving the bus from New York City to Charlotte was 48-year-old Jing S. Dong, a Chinese native who is a naturalized American living on Staten Island.

    Here’s the “worse” part of the story. According to WJLA, Dong is due in a Maryland courtroom TODAY on speeding charges. He was recently stopped doing 72 in a 50 zone.

    There are so many questions about this tragedy.

    First, why was Dong allowed to continue driving a commercial vehicle while reckless driving charges were pending? Continue reading.

  • A Revenue Reforecast Is Not a Blank Check

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    A person in a vest and bow tie holding a humorous oversized check made out for 'a bazillion dollars' with the memo 'Good Luck.' The background features an office setting.

    by Derrick Max

    To be clear, there is no evidence that Virginia’s professional forecasters manipulated the numbers. The Commonwealth has earned a well-deserved reputation for responsible revenue forecasting, and when collections exceed expectations, forecasts should be updated accordingly. In fact, the Jefferson Forum has noted how Virginia’s economy is more resilient to federal changes than it once was, and the forecasts have become overly pessimistic by not taking this fact into account.

    But the coincidence on the amount of revenue added in the reforecast should not obscure a more important question: what kind of additional revenue are we talking about?

    Just as Governor Spanberger and the General Assembly appeared deadlocked over how to fund competing budget priorities, Virginia’s latest revenue reforecast requested by Governor Spanberger arrived with welcome news: roughly $1.5 billion in additional projected revenue through Fiscal Year 2028.

    The timing and the reforecast increase in revenue are both remarkable.

    (more…)

  • Out of Bounds: When Religious Bias Enters the Legislative Process

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Joshua N. Lief

    A group of men at a poker table, with one man standing and shouting excitedly while throwing playing cards and poker chips into the air. The atmosphere is lively and tense, with other players reacting dramatically.
    Image credit: Grok

    In the high-stakes environment of the Virginia General Assembly, debate is expected to be vigorous. Whatever the topic, we rely on elected officials to weigh arguments based on facts, economics, and fairness. However, when a delegate bypasses the substance of a bill and instead targets the identity of one of its proponents, the integrity of the entire process is called into question.

    During discussions this past session about legislation seeking fairness for charities a disturbing moment occurred. The leading opponent of the bill, a member of the house of delegates, when pressed on his continued opposition, reportedly responded to a question by referring to one of the bill’s proponents as the “man in a yarmulke.”

    Using a religious garment as shorthand for a person’s identity in a professional setting isn’t just a lapse in decorum; it is a classic antisemitic trope – that a Jewish person’s involvement in policy must be driven by a hidden, insular agenda rather than the public good. At a time when antisemitic acts and violence against Jews are both increasing rapidly in the United States, we must demand more from our elected officials.

    (more…)

  • “Reinterred and Reinterpeted” Needs Revision

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    Illustration of a historical figure with question marks and text reading 'MUSEUMS AT W&L' in a circular design.

    by Kamron M. Spivey

    A quick walk across Washington and Lee University’s campus — or a skim through recent museum publications — reveals a troubling pattern of factual inaccuracies, weak sourcing, and careless historical interpretation. These problems are not isolated mistakes. They raise legitimate concerns about the reliability of the university’s forthcoming chapel galleries and the broader Institutional History Museum project.

    Consider the Museums Department’s newsletter series, “Reinterred and Reinterpreted,” which promises “a closer look” at figures buried in the chapel, such as “Light Horse Harry” Lee and his wife, Anne Carter. These articles, however, contain a remarkable number of factual inaccuracies for a publication issued under the university’s institutional authority.

    Most egregious of the errors is the claim that, “During his presidency of Washington College (known today as Washington and Lee University), Robert E. Lee visited his father’s grave in 1862.”

    Lee did in fact journey to Cumberland Island, Georgia — the original burial site of his father — in January 1862. At that time, Robert E. Lee was a General overseeing coastal fortifications in service of the Confederate States of America. His visit to Cumberland Island was gratifying, he told his wife, Mary — a scenic respite from “the enemy’s gunboats,” which were “pushing up the creek to cut off communication between [Savannah] and Fort Pulaski.” He would not become president of Washington College until October 1865. 

    (more…)

  • These Virginia Constitutional Amendments Need Opposition, Not Neutrality

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    James A. Bacon

    A 32-30 vote to remain “neutral” where Republican State Central Committee members couldn’t even put their names to their votes? Unacceptable.

    Illustration of a distressed elephant, symbolizing the Republican Party, lying on the ground with a GOP sign nearby. The elephant appears injured, with marks on its head, against a vintage paper background.

    by Shaun Kenney

    Now I will grant this. Never has a unit committee or state committee endorsement swung an election, at least not in recent memory.

    This is how inconsequential votes from the Republican Party apparatus have become.

    Yet a 32-30 voice vote where the members of the Republican Party of Virginia’s State Central Committee refused to put their names to a vote of neutrality on a trio of really bad Virginia state amendments? Amendments from the same political party that botched the gerrymandering amendment?

    That’s wrong.

    Look — I have no problem advising a unit committee to hold back on these amendments knowing that they are so terrible as to command unanimous opposition. That’s a perfectly acceptable answer and a politically smart one as well.

    Yet neutrality on these questions? As if we have no opinion whatsoever on these things? Or worse, we have no opinion on these things because the Democrats might call us bad names?

    What are you guys thinking??

    Of course the Democrats are going to call you names. Of course they are going to tell us we are racists and bigots for insisting that someone who served a 20-year sentence for pedophilia shouldn’t be able to stand for election to school board. Of course they are going to say words don’t mean things. Of course they are going to upend parental notification and parental consent in the name of freedom and equality.

    (more…)

Now Available

Book cover of 'Dust Mites: A Second American Revolution' by James A. Bacon, featuring astronauts planting a flag with a blue and white emblem on a lunar landscape, with Earth visible in the background.
For sale on Amazon.com

The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….

This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.

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Bacon’s Rebellion is Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy. Read more about us here.

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