Category: Education (higher ed)
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DEI by Any Other Name Is Just as Noxious
Did UVA eliminate DEI or merely rebrand it? by the Jefferson Council For over a decade, successive UVA administrations spent millions of dollars building one of the most extensive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) bureaucracies in American higher education. A 2021 survey ranked UVA second among major universities in the number of DEI employees, and…
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Rocovich Punches Back
From Cardinal News: Former Virginia Tech rector John Rocovich filed a lawsuit against Gov. Abigail Spanberger in Montgomery County Circuit Court on Tuesday after she removed him from the university’s board of visitors in May for undisclosed reasons pertaining to his conduct. … Rocovich’s team of attorneys argued, in the lawsuit, that Spanberger did not…
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Former UVA President’s Sabbatical Raises Governance Questions
by Scott Douglas Gerber 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…
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Drip, Drip, Drip
The truth slowly emerges about what UVA leaders knew about the Health System scandal. by The Jefferson Council 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…
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Dodging FOIA at VMI
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…
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Still Addicted to Opacity in Governance
From The Jefferson Council: 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 &…
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Wrecked Rectors & Busted Boards
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…
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Spanberger Making Enemies All Over Virginia
by Kerry Dougherty Last week, after it was announced that Gov. Abigail Spanberger was meddling in Virginia Tech governance by summarily firing the beloved rector of Virginia Tech, former Rep. Scott Taylor posed a question on X: Is there any group that the new governor of Virginia hasn’t pissed off?“Furries,” I replied. “The NOVA Wine…
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Rocovich Responds
to his firing as Virginia Tech rector by Governor Abigail Spanberger. Source: (18) Patrick Bowers on X: “GO OFF ROC! Take a seat @SpanbergerForVA https://t.co/HaU97nyo8d” / X
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The More Things Change at UVA, the More They Stay the Same
Despite the shake-up in leadership at the University of Virginia, at least one senior administrator regards Thomas Jefferson with antipathy. Kenyon Bonner, chief student affairs officer at the University of Virginia, delivered the keynote address to the graduating class of 2026 during Final Exercises. The Daily Progress provided this excerpt: “Graduates, you symbolize the possibilities…
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“Death to America”
The event was not registered as required by university policy. But Virginia Tech allowed it to proceed unimpeded at McBryde Hall, Room 202.
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Jeri Seidman Must Resign
Before her appointment as faculty representative to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, the then-chair of the Faculty Senate manipulated the student council president to advance her campaign against the previous board. by the Jefferson Council UVA’s Faculty Senate has spent the better part of the last year delivering lectures on transparency, trust, and…
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Alleged: Scott Told VMI to Boot Board Members or Suffer State Funding Cuts
The Cadet staff Virginia’s House Speaker demanded the resignation or change of roles of two Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors (BOV) members or suffer budget consequences, allege sources with direct knowledge of the threat. Lt. Gen. David Furness’s continuance as superintendent is conditioned on compliance. The Cadet is investigating, has submitted formal questions, and…
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Gordon K. Davies, RIP
by Gordon C. Morse I learned earlier today of the death of Gordon K. Davies, the former head of the State Council for Higher Education. He was ousted from that post almost 30 years ago, and Virginia was the less for it. Occasionally, the commonwealth attracts brilliance to its service, and Gordon was brilliant enough…
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Good News for Medical Research in Virginia
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Remember that edict by the Trump administration capping the indirect costs portion of grants by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at 15 percent? There was vigorous discussion of that announcement on this blog, with many commentators supporting the move. Well, the Trump administration has given up on that effort. As soon as…