Ever since he resigned in 2020 as superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute under pressure from then-Governor Ralph Northam, J.H. Binford Peay III has refrained from commenting on the furors raging at the military institute. Even as his 17-year legacy was being trashed and VMI was depicted as a racist, sexist institution, he held his tongue.

But the 85-year-old veteran of the Vietnam War and Desert Storm felt moved to speak up when the reputation of his former chief of staff — a current VMI board member — was under attack.

The Institute remains embroiled in political conflict in the wake of the board declined to renew the contract for Peay’s successor, Cedric T. Wins, an African-American alumnus with a distinguished military career. Legacy media has implied without evidence that Wins’ race was a factor in the decision, although Wins’ implementation of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion policies at VMI undoubtedly was.

E. Sean Lanier, a former board member, sparked the latest controversy by issuing a letter criticizing the board on a variety of grounds, including its vetting and appointment processes for three current board members. He specifically noted that board member Jamie Inman had been “removed from his role as Chief of Staff at VMI under the prior administration for insubordination involving the delivery of sensitive materials to then-BoV President Bill Boland ’73.”

Peay issued this statement regarding Inman: “Jamie Inman was never removed from his role as Chief of Staff under my administration. Col (Ret.) Inman served me and VMI for over a decade, and his performance was superlative. This is just another case of disinformation.”

Otherwise, it appears that Peay refrained from commenting on current controversies. The Cadet student newspaper contains only the one quote.

Lanier’s letter called for an investigation into the impact of “missed opportunities” in student recruitment and commissioning from 2014 to 2024.

Lanier, an African-American alumnus, was involved in VMI recruitment efforts as early as 1995 when he served as a “roadrunner” representing the Institute at college fairs, according to his letter. In 2013, the Peay administration invited him to support the recruitment and commissioning of African-American cadets — not an easy job at an institution steeped in Confederate Civil War lore. In 2014, Peay expressed a goal of recruiting 10 to 15 African-American cadets. Lanier countered at the time that a target of 30 to 50 was more appropriate. Total enrollment, which has fallen from its peak, numbered around 1,700 in the mid-2010s.

Conservative alumni opposed purging the memory of Stonewall Jackson from the post under Wins and his allies on the Board of Visitors, but the preservation of Confederate iconography has receded into the background as an issue. Dissident alumni have shifted their criticism of VMI policy to implementation of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, with its emphasis on racial, ethnic, sex and gender identity. Traditionalists say that DEI magnifies differences between cadets and is antithetical to building a common identity built upon the VMI ideals of the citizen-soldier.

The Cadet, which is supported by conservative alumni, has the story about Lanier’s letter and the reaction to it.

— JAB