by James A. Bacon
There appears in the minutes of the Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors meeting of July 13, 2023 an abbreviated mention of a very hot topic:
Mr. [Thomas E.] Gottwald raised concerns about the administration’s continued conflict with The Cadet newspaper. Five news articles have been written regarding a challenge to the Virginia Press Association’s awards given to The Cadet. [Board President Thomas R.] Watjen suggested a conversation be had to better understand the administration’s involvement with the news articles.
That would be the same independent student newspaper whose denigration by The Washington Post we have chronicled here on Bacon’s Rebellion. Although Superintendent Cedric Wins has publicly praised The Cadet for its prestigious award, allegations have been circulating that negative stories about The Cadet were prompted by the VMI administration itself. I have refrained until now from reporting on those charges, but they have surfaced in the VMI board meeting, in an online petition, and again in an article appearing in Cardinal News.
The controversy has grown to the point where Watjen has asked VMI’s university counsel, who reports to the Attorney General, to investigate whether VMI sought negative press about The Cadet and to report back to the Board in September.
A petition, found on Change.org, had called for a “public, fair, thorough, open, transparent, impartial, and equitable review/investigation” into VMI actions questioning the integrity of its cadets and alumni over awards made by the Virginia Press Association. Stories charging Cadet editors with failing to disclose a conflict of interest in one of its award-winning articles appeared most prominently in The Washington Post, which has been consistently hostile to VMI alumni backers of the student newspaper.
The petition goes on:
The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) administration, and some members of its Board of Visitors (BOV) have, or are seeking to: 1) restrict freedom of speech and viewpoint diversity at VMI by seeking to control, influence, shut down their student newspaper, one of the oldest independent college newspapers in Virginia; 2) publicly discredit and/or punish their own cadets for “speaking truth to power” and allowing all viewpoints to be heard by working with and/or influencing the media to question their integrity and discredit reporting that does not fit the administration’s agenda; and 3) conceal their potentially unethical and/or unlawful activities by deliberately planning to avoid public visibility of their actions.
In a letter posted on the VMI website, Watjen said, “I have not yet seen any indications that the administration is intentionally engaged in proactively sharing information with individuals or news organizations to lead them to a particular story line, something implied by a petition being circulated in social media.”
Findings from an investigation, he added, will arm the board “to determine what, if any, additional actions may be required.”
If an investigation is conducted, credit Youngkin appointee Gottwald for pressing the case. Gottwald, who named his Richmond-based chemical company NewMarket Corp. after the famous Civil War battle in which VMI cadets fought, has emerged as a vocal and forceful Board of Visitors advocate. I expect we’ll be hearing a lot more from him.
Correction: This post has been corrected to say that Watjen’s statement was posted on the VMI website, not obtained through a FOIA request as originally published.
