by James A. Bacon

For time immemorial, higher-ed policy in Virginia was the subject of broad bipartisan agreement. No longer. Virginia Democrats are fired up about University of Virginia President Jim Ryan’s resignation, and they are using it to make Virginia statewide elections a referendum on President Trump.

We’ve already reported on how Senate Democrats have threatened, in the name of depoliticizing appointments to the governing boards of public state universities, to take the unprecedented act of rejecting every single nominee advanced by Governor Glenn Youngkin. Now Democrats are ginning up a narrative of an assault on academic freedom and vowing to “fight back hard.”

Other than from John Reid, candidate for lieutenant governor and former talk-radio host who remains as feisty as ever, I have seen little pushback from Republicans.

Read the following statement by Senator Adam P. Ebbin, D-Alexandria, which I quote in full because it reveals the new Democratic Party narrative in the making.

Dear Friend, As you may have heard, recently UVA’s President Jim Ryan made the difficult decision to resign in the face of unprecedented and authoritarian pressure from the Trump administration. We must be clear and forceful in calling out and standing up to this tremendous abuse of power by an administration in DC that is more interested in accumulating vast power than it is helping the American people. President Ryan fought hard to preserve the integrity of our institutions of higher learning from Trump’s attacks, and we owe it to him to carry forth the mantle of resistance. 

Let us also be clear that this dangerous slide away from open thought and institutional autonomy did not happen overnight. This is the latest in a long assault on academic freedom that started with the Youngkin administration and Virginia Republicans. They have made it clear that they want to make our public universities yet another battleground for their MAGA culture war, rather than a place where Virginians can freely learn.

It is time for us to fight back and fight back hard. Already, my Democratic Colleagues in the Senate and I have held Governor Youngkin accountable by taking him to court for his attempt to install MAGA loyalists, like Project 2025 author Ken Cuccinelli, to state university boards across Virginia – even after their nominations were clearly rejected by the General Assembly. But the fight is only just beginning.

This is a pivotal moment in our fight against extremism in our commonwealth. We cannot allow Donald Trump, Glenn Youngkin, and Winsome Sears to stack our University boards’ and remove hardworking, independent educators simply for opposing their narrow worldview. Our hold on objective reality is at stake.

That’s why we need everyone involved in this fight. We need to make sure our voices are heard and that we have strong advocates for Virginia’s higher education system in office. This fall, that means electing Abigail Spanberger, Ghazala Hashmi, and Jay Jones to be our next Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General, as well as reelecting a Democratic majority in the House of Delegates. I encourage everyone to not just vote, but also donate and, perhaps most importantly, volunteer. You can sign up to volunteer at https://abigailspanberger.com/volunteer/ or by reaching out to your local Democratic Committee.

The work is only just beginning. I hope you will join me in this fight.

Democrats want to frame the issue as authoritarian overreach by the Trump administration. Republicans will frame the Department of Justice’s role at UVA as enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against racial preferences in college admissions.

If the Democratic narrative prevails, the issue will favor them this fall. But will it? Here are findings from a January 2024 Gallup poll: