Action delayed on legislation that would give VSU control of VMI

It is going to be another week before we know if legislation proposed to bring Virginia Military Institute under the umbrella of Virginia State University will advance out of a House committee.

On a voice vote Feb. 2, the House Education Committee‘s higher education subcommittee delayed action on House Bill 1374 following testimony where opposition overwhelmed support for the bill. Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke and a member of the subcommittee, suggested the bill “go by for the day,” which in legislative terms meant that he and his colleagues should wait until its next meeting Feb. 9 to decide its fate.

The vote followed remarks from more than 40 speakers both in-person and virtually, all but two of them rejecting the legislation.

The VMI issue is a hot political topic in Richmond during this legislative session. Several bills addressing the Lexington college have been introduced by Democrats who control the General Assembly, including House Bill 1377 that would create a task force to study VMI’s future as a state-supported institution. To date, that is the only VMI-related legislation that has gotten out of a House committee.

Democrats have been questioning accountability at VMI since last year when the contract of Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins, VMI’s first Black superintendent, was not renewed. The VMI Board that did not renew the contract consisted of appointees by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who was accused by Democrats of trying to instill GOP control on the board.

Last year, Virginia Senate Democrats blocked Youngkin’s new appointees to the VMI Board. Almost immediately after taking the oath of office on Jan. 17, Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger appointed her own choices to the board – four of them VMI alumni, one being former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam.

Sensitivity on view before the bill’s discussion

The political sensitivity of the issue was apparent at Monday’s subcommittee meeting before the first public comment was made.

In addressing his bill, Feggans said VMI has roots in the Confederacy and noted that many buildings on campus are named for Confederate military personnel from the Civil War.

“VMI can have excellent academics and produce outstanding scholars who serve military and civilian life,” Feegans said. “And VMI and its alumni can still be constrained by the attachment to the mythology of the antebellum South. Even with changes to governance, there’s no guarantee that transformation will be immediately successful.

“For VMI to flourish into the future, it must be allowed to move unfettered by the ghosts of the past, ghosts rooted in efforts to keep this country divided.”

No reason has been explicitly stated for the choice of Virginia State University, 163 miles east of Lexington in the Chesterfield County village of Ettrick. It is, however, the closest public historically Black college or university [HBCU] to VMI.

“These cadets deserve an institution that prepares them for the future,” Feggans said, “and not one held back by an outdated vision of the past.”

Del. Tom Garrett, R-Goochland County, left the meeting before the hearing but not before chastising the bill as “so ridiculously scripted” that he wanted no part of the discussion.

“I understand that you can presume there’ll be a certain number of ‘No’s’ and that’s OK,” Garrett said. “But I’m not gonna be among them.”

Citing the 64-36 Democratic majority, Garrett said he can “do math” and understand that the bill will probably clear the House.

“So, if you want to gut VMI, you’ll do it without my ‘no’ vote,” he said before walking out.

One Republican who stayed for the discussion, Del. Anne Ferrell Tata of Virginia Beach, said that the bill “risks fundamentally altering VMI’s identity, as the two institutions have different missions that may not align.”

Speakers echo the different-missions argument

Hopewell Mayor Johnny Partin Jr., a VMI graduate who got his master’s degree from Virginia State University, told the subcommittee he is proud of attending both schools.

“The current [VSU] administration does not have the experience of running a comprehensive military school, and this is of no fault or slight to the administration,” Partin said. “VSU is a great university where they offer very unique specialties.”

Partin said the bill “places VSU and VMI both in a very precarious situation.” He added that he has seen the new VMI Board of Visitors in action, “and I encourage you all to watch.”

Former VMI board member Lara Tyler Chambers, part of the third group of women to graduate from the school in 2003, said Feggans’ bill was not reform but a “sledgehammer.

“It will shake scholarships, derail commissioning timelines, and drive away the faculty and staff who keep the place running,” said Chambers, now a member of the Virginia Commonwealth University Board of Visitors. She noted that her two terms on the VMI board were as an appointee of Democratic governors – Northam and his immediate predecessor, Terry McAuliffe – so what she was asking for is not partisan.

“I know there have been concerns about racial and gender climate at VMI,” Chambers said. “Those concerns are serious. They deserve sunlight consequences and measurable improvement.”

“The question before this body is not whether VMI serves the commonwealth,” James Boyle, from the VMI Class of 2023. “The question is whether the commonwealth still values character, where it still values courage, whether it still values responsibility and free society.”

Supporter says bill ‘very necessary’

The only support for House Bill 1374 came from the Virginia NAACP, who claimed VMI has not produced a racially conducive atmosphere for its cadets.

“VMI was the last public institution to allow Black cadets, and more recently, the Board of Visitors removed VMI’s first Black superintendent after an unusually short tenure,” said Jeremiah Woods, a former VMI cadet and now chair of the Virginia NAACP Youth & College Political Action Committee. “This law is very necessary as VMI has a continued public record of failure in governance.”

When the public comment period ended, Rasoul noted “legitimate concerns” from both sides of the issue that need to be addressed before the bill could move forward.

“Most importantly, having that transparency and accountability that I think is important,” Rasoul said. He recommended the delay to give Feggans “an opportunity for individuals who like to maybe come directly to him and talk about it.”

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at [email protected] or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Action delayed on legislation that would give VSU control of VMI

Reporting by Bill Atkinson, Petersburg Progress-Index / The Progress-Index

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