Bacon's Rebellion

  • The Cost of DEI? That’s the Easy Part.

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    This whole argument over the cost of DEI at UVa. is a tempest in a teapot in budget terms. Even if one accepts the inflated figure of $20 million put forth by Open the Books, that is less than one percent of UVa.โ€™s adopted budget of $2.40 billion for the academic division for the next academic year. At the Department of Planning and Budget (DPB), we would call that a โ€œrounding error.โ€

    The university administration would likely be delighted for the Board of Visitors to spend a lot of time arguing about that one percentโ€”what is the definition of a DEI employee, what proportion of salary should be included, etc. There would be that much less time for the members to spend on trying to get a grasp of the bigger pictureโ€”the $2.4 billion and how that is spent. (more…)

  • Another Rubber-Stamped UVA Budget, But Some Useful Discussion This Time

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    The University of Virginia Board of Visitors unanimously approved a $5.9 billion budget for UVA in 2024-25. The $2.4 billion budget for the academic campus in Charlottesville represents a 6.8% spending increase over the current year. The budget also includes $3.3 billion for the UVA medical center and $76 million for the College at Wise.

    Although the Board session was free from controversy, Board members did lay the groundwork for deeper analysis next academic year when Governor Glenn Youngkin’s appointees will comprise a 13-to-7 majority of the Board. In the scant time allowed for discussion, the Board addressed two critical topics that had been missing from the Ryan administration’s presentation of the budget: faculty productivity and the size and cost of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion bureaucracy.

    Board member Doug Wetmore got straight to the point regarding DEI spending, asking point blank, “What’s the DEI budget for the upcoming year, and how does it compare to the previous year?”

    The DEI budget is $7.5 million, answered Chief Operating Officer J.J. Davis, who added that the number includes the cost of the EOCR (Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights) office, which is charged with enforcing federal civil rights law and is folded into the Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. (more…)

  • Virginia Untethered From Californiaโ€™s Nutty EV Regs

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Well, God bless Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares .

    On Wednesday the dynamic duo announced that theyโ€™d found a way to undo some of the damage done by the commonwealthโ€™s Democrats when these far-left lawmakers hooked Virginiaโ€™s wagon to Californiaโ€™s.

    You can read the attorney generalโ€™s advisory opinion here.

    Letโ€™s back up.

    In 2021 when Dems were running all three branches of Virginia state government, the General Assembly recklessly passed a bill – and the loathsome Ralph Northam signed it – linking our state laws on electric vehicles to Californiaโ€™s.

    As if California is a state that any of the 49 others would want to emulate.

    California has now revised its regs on EVs effective January 1, 2025 and Mirayes opines that weโ€™re not obligated to follow the new ones.

    Hallelujah!

    The Richmond-Times Dispatch reports that โ€œThe new California mandates step up the pace to require that all new car, truck and SUV sales be zero emission vehicles by 2035, with 35% of new sales being electric vehicles in model year 2026.โ€ย Continue reading.

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

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    James A. Bacon

  • Auditing AI

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    James A. Bacon


    by James A. Bacon

    This is an issue that every university, corporation or government entity, not just the University of Virginia, should be thinking about: How will Artificial Intelligence affect their accounting, finances, and operations?

    AI overlords aren’t likely to enslave the human race any time soon. But the technology is progressing at a logarithmic rate, and in the hands of malign or incompetent people it can cause considerable harm long before we find ourselves kneeling before killer robots and addressing them as, “sir.”

    The UVA Board of Visitors voted Friday to adopt a wide-ranging two-year audit plan for the UVA Health division. Among many initiatives, the plan included this: (more…)

  • Cell Phone Ban Working in Chesapeake

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Chesapeake public schools banned cell phones and tablets in school for most of the school day and now report to The Virginian-Pilot that students are less disruptive and paying more attention in class.

    The rule enacted this year requires devices to be stored in a bag, locker or vehicle during school hours. High school students were allowed to use them during lunch, writes the Pilot, but officials said they will likely remove that exception next year.

    โ€œTeachers are ecstatic about it,โ€ย says Jeff Johnson, principal of Great Bridge High School. Theyโ€™re spending less time asking students to put devices away and making fewer referrals for discipline issues, he explains. (more…)

  • UVA as Entrepreneurial Hub?

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Does the University of Virginia have what it takes to become an engine of technological innovation and entrepreneurial wealth creation? Mike Lenox, professor of entrepreneurship at the Darden School of Business, thinks that it does. James Murray, a venture capitalist specializing in telecommunications and information technology, isn’t so sure. They engaged in one of the more spirited, if all too brief, debates in a Board of Visitors meeting in recent memory.

    Lenox was invited to the Board Thursday to present the University’s Pan-University Entrepreneurship Initiative. While it is unrealistic to think that UVA could duplicate the success of a Berkeley or a Stanford in Silicon Valley, he said, it is reasonable to aspire to become a second-tier innovation center on the scale of a Boulder, Colorado (home to the University of Colorado.)

    UVA and Charlottesville have developed a respectable innovation ecosystem, said Lenox. UVA alumni have created three billion-dollar “exits,” or business cash-outs, including Lending Tree and, most recently, Reddit. The talent exists. But would-be entrepreneurs need more support — some of which UVA can provide. (more…)

  • Acampora Previews Religious-Diversity Recommendations

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    Christa Acampora addresses the Board of Visitors while board member Stephen Long looks on.

    by James A. Bacon

    The University of Virginia’s task force on religious diversity and belonging won’t issue formal recommendations until the end of the month, but task force chair Christa Acampora gave the Board of Visitors a preview today of the topics it likely will address. At the top of the list will be integrating the religious identity of UVA community members into the broader Inclusive Excellence framework for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.

    The primary emphasis of Inclusive Excellence and DEI until now has been race/ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender. To those identity groups, presumably, UVA would add religions, particularly “minority” religions. (more…)

  • Acorn to Oak: “Free” Military Dependent Tuition

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    by

    Steve Haner

    From a recent House committee presentation on the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program. Click for larger view.

    By Steve Haner

    Virginiaโ€™s political leaders are embarked upon another of their occasional efforts to clean up their own mess, in this case scrambling to restore a generous tuition waiver at Virginiaโ€™s public universities for family members of certain veterans.

    It is being touted as a benefit for Virginia โ€œgold star familiesโ€ of the fallen. Were it only for them there would be no controversy. (more…)

  • An Alternative Interpretation of the EV Statute

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    This is a follow-up to Steve Hanerโ€™s article on Gov. Youngkinโ€™s announcement that Virginia will not be bound by California regulations on electric vehicles after this year.

    The Governorโ€™s announcement is a lawyerโ€™s dream. There are different ways to interpret the laws and regulations involved and, so, off to court we go.

    First, some background to refresh your memory. The 2021 General Assembly passed legislation saying the Air Pollution Board may adopt a zero emission vehicle (ZEV) regulation, using the California standards. The language also included some โ€œshallsโ€ placing conditions on that authority.

    The Air Pollution Board adopted such a regulation. The regulation includes, by reference, specific California regulations. Those California regulations are listed in a section of the Virginia regulation.

    California decided to upgrade its ZEV regulation. However, instead of amending the regulation on the books, it repealed it, effective the end of this year, and adopted new regulations. Therefore, the Virginia regulation adopts a California regulation by reference that will no longer be in effect after this year. (In the documents that are flying around, the current California regulation is referred to as ACC I and the new one as ACC II. (โ€œACCโ€ is the acronym for โ€œAdvanced Clean Carsโ€, not Atlantic Coast Conference.) (more…)

  • Anarchy Is Loosed Upon the World

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Everything that’s wrong with politics in America has been on display in Central Virginia this past week.

    Militants from the deep-blue Peoples Republic of Charlottesville and activists from one of the reddest congressional districts in the country collided like flint and rock. Republican candidates for Congress continued their fratricidal struggle over who is most loyal to former President Donald Trump. Adding to the mayhem, showboating Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, joined the fray and amped up the rhetoric.

    Everyone behaved badly, although Greene managed to pose as the victim when a lefty crowd shouted down her speech and hurled mindless obscenities.

    Civility is dying. The partisan extremes goad each other into greater extremity. Politics has become theater with everyone playing to the cell phone camera and lining up the next post on X or YouTube. (more…)

  • Lest We Forget 80 Years Ago Today

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    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Omaha Beach Landing
    Photo credit: U.S. Army Center of Military History

  • The Open the Books Webinar

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    In a recent post Dick Hall-Sizemore, a retired Virginia budget analyst, critiqued the Open the Books methodology for calculating the size and cost of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion bureaucracy at the University of Virginia. He based his observations in part upon Open the Books CEO Adam Andrzejewski’s explanation provided in the Jefferson Council webinar shown above.

    This discussion has resonance beyond UVA. Open the Books is using the template it developed for UVA to conduct deep dives into DEI at other state universities, most recently the University of North Carolina system. It’s fair to ask: How does one measure the size and cost of DEI? Who do we classify as a “DEI” employee. How much of his or her salary do we count?

    By all means, let the debate begin.

    — JAB

  • So Much Privilege, So Much Self Pity

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Bacon’s crocodile tears

    Sometimes schadenfreude is the best freude of all.

    It seems that the Democracy-dies-in-darkness people are feeling a little darkness themselves. Since 2020, The Washington Post has experienced a 50% decline in its audience, and the enterprise lost $70 million last year. Seventy-million dollars? Hey, that’s real money even to WaPo owner Jeff Bezos, one of the world’s richest men.

    Now the media enterprise, which somehow still manages to dominate the news cycle in its backyard market of Virginia, is tearing itself apart in controversy over the departure of executive editor Sally Buzbee. Publisher and CEO Will Lewis has told staff that the losses cannot continue, changes need to take place, and employees need to get with the program. (more…)

  • The Economic Value of Living Shorelines

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    by

    James A. Bacon


    by James A. Bacon

    Every so often I find myself in agreement with new environmental initiatives.

    Not those relating to climate change that require the re-engineering of Virginia’s energy economy in the vain hope of slowing down global warming. And not in zero-risk regulations such as the landfilling of coal ash at a cost of billions of dollars to save a single hypothetical life from exposure to heavy metals and toxic chemicals.

    But I do tend to favor rules, regulations, and voluntary practices that protect Virginia wildlife habitat — such as living shorelines.

    A new study by Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) researchers published in Ocean and Coastal Management has made an important contribution to assigning economic value to tidal marshes and living shorelines. Marsh habitat on Virginia’s Middle Peninsula, the researchers found, produces more than $6.4 million in economic value each year from recreational anglers. (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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