Governor Abigail Spanberger has announced 27 appointments to the Boards of Visitors of the University of Virginia, George Mason University, and the Virginia Military Institute. The appointees fill vacancies created by the departure of board members selected by former Governor Glenn Youngkin, either because they were rejected by the state Senate or because Spanberger asked them to resign.

Most prominent among the new appointees is former Governor Ralph Northam to the Virginia Military Institute. As the Washington Post notes, “In 2020, Northam, a VMI graduate, ordered an investigation into the school’s treatment of Black students.”

Democrats, says the Post, have criticized Youngkin for “being overly involved in Virginia’s colleges.”