by Paul Goldman

When I served on the State Council of Higher Education, academic freedom was a core educational value. Apparently no longer. We learned today the University of Virginia Board of Visitors caved in into President Trump. They him force out UVA President Ryan because the federal government bureaucrats didn’t like what UVA was doing. 

When I served on the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) board, I was the lone voice standing up for academic freedom against bullying state government. At least I understood why the others were against me. They feared taking on state officials. 

Unfortunately, I was naïve. I didn’t realize academic freedom had a financial price in Virginia’s higher education system.

Money talked, not academic freedom. 

It’s OK, apparently, to the lecture poor people and the less fortunate about how they should stand up for their rights at all costs.

But gosh forbid the elite who have the money and resources to do. It might put their money where their mouth is. 

Let’s cut to the chase: UVA, our entire education system in Virginia has been embarrassed, degraded, shown for what it is. Academic freedom in Virginia goes to high bid. When it comes to money, Uncle Sugar can print more of it than anyone else. 

UVA Board and Governor Youngkin wanted a piece of that new $5 trillion and more they’re gonna add to the national debt.So, they let President Ryan twist in the wind. 

This is a very bad look. The next UVA president has to be someone who has the courage of their convictions. Someone who can’t bullied by Washington. Someone who really believes in UVA as an institution.

I can think of only one person I know who fits this description. Dr. Larry Sabato, who’s best known as a political analyst in Virginia. But his day job was being one of the best respected professors at UVA.

Larry and I first met in 1976 on a sandy patch of the beach at Virginia Beach.Hard to believe it’s gonna be 50 years next year. Larry and I have had an up-and-down relationship over the years and I probably haven’t spoken to him in I can’t remember how long.

Our politics are different and I would say our analysis of how to win elections is likewise often dissimilar.

But one thing I know, despite all our differences: Larry is a true-blue UVA alumnus, He’s given his life to the school, he’s bled for that school and it’ll take someone like him to bring back the reputation now badly tarnished if not lost.

He’s also at an age where he has nothing to lose if he has to take a stand against the president or a federal government or a governor who doesn’t appreciate academic freedom.

This idea that students or professors or admins have to conform to a certain kind of thinking, to a certain kind of rules from Washington in order to be at a university, to teach at a university, to run.a university is not consistent with the values of this country or this state. If someone wants to criticize my religion, my gender my support for Israel, my support for Democratic values my support for anything, I say, let them do it. If a university board feels that it needs a certain kind of academic community to be what it wants to be, what it thinks it students need, that shouldn’t be a concern to the federal government in terms of using money to force people to conform to the ideas of the current Oval Office occupant.

Yes, Sabato would be foolish to take the job. He doesn’t need the headache. 

But America can’t continue to progress given our failing education system from pre-K to post doctorate. We’ve lost our way, because we don’t have enough people willing to stand up for basic values. 

Therefore, Larry is the perfect person for the job. He’s old enough to have the experience but likewise old enough to be willing to tell a U.S. president: I ain’t giving in. 

I say academic freedom is worth fighting for. Academic freedom by definition is supposed to make the establishment uncomfortable. Unconventional Ideas can be scary things. Especially to the establishment. That’s why in Virginia you could’ve gotten the death penalty for teaching a slave how to read.

We can’t let money define academic freedom. 

UVA needs to hire Larry Sabato, even if it’s only on a temporary basis. We need integrity in that office because UVA is the state flagship public university.