Virginia Democrats reject more Youngkin university board appointees

A Virginia State Senate committee rejected 14 more of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s university board appointees Thursday, and three high-ranking Senate Democrats have sent a letter to the governor asking him to suspend future board appointments until he discusses them with Senate leadership.

The letter, which was released following Thursday’s vote by the Senate Privileges & Elections committee, comes amid legal warfare between Democratic state lawmakers and Virginia’s Republican leadership over public universities’ leadership, while the Trump administration threatens to withhold federal funding if universities don’t rid themselves of diversity, equity and inclusion offices and programs.

The committee voted 8-6 not to confirm Youngkin’s 14 nominees for George Mason University, the University of Virginia and Virginia Military Institute‘s boards of visitors.

There was little discussion, although three Republican senators questioned the timing and motivation of the vote while the Supreme Court of Virginia considers an appeal by the state attorney general of a ruling in favor of nine Democratic senators over the rejection of earlier board appointees.

With Thursday’s vote, the Senate committee has now voted to reject 22 of Youngkin’s nominees for the three universities’ boards. Thursday’s rejected appointees include six people named to George Mason’s board, as well as four each named to U.Va. and VMI’s boards by the governor in August.

Gubernatorial board appointees are considered active members unless they fail to be confirmed by the state’s legislature, typically via committee vote.

The 14 gubernatorial nominees rejected by the Senate include:

• George Mason: American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Preston Cooper; former Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Treasury official Jeffrey Dinwoodie; and former Northern Virginia Technology Council CEO Bobbie Kilberg;
• U.Va.: Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman James H. Donovan, former MasterCard International CEO Eugene Lockhart; and former chief financial officer and partner at Carlyle Group John F. Harris;
• VMI: Retired Army colonel and former state Del. Scott M. Lingamfelter; and Garrett Exner, a retired Marine who served as military legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and is a national defense expert at Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.

Thursday’s vote leaves George Mason’s board of visitors with only six confirmed members at a critical juncture when the board and GMU President Gregory Washington are under a 10-day deadline to voluntarily enter into a resolution agreement with the U.S. Department of Education over an investigation that found the university violated federal civil rights laws.

The DOE announced Aug. 22 that its Office of Civil Rights had found the university in violation of civil rights law by “illegally using race and other immutable characteristics in university practices and policies, including hiring and promotion” — although critics view this as an overreach by the Trump administration, along with three other federal investigations launched in July against George Mason, and the Department of Justice’s involvement in pushing out former U.Va. President Jim Ryan, who stepped down in June.

Democratic Sens. Scott A. Surovell, Louise Lucas and Mamie Locke, in their letter to the governor, refer to federal influences that have “created significant uncertainty and instability within our higher education system at a time when these institutions need steady, qualified leadership.

“Our universities face mounting challenges, including potential federal investigations and pressure from the new Trump administration’s Department of Justice, threats to our international student admissions, and research dollars,” the letter reads. “There is now a vacancy [at] the presidency of the University of Virginia due to its board’s failure to defend the school. Rather than providing these institutions with the stable, experienced governance they desperately need to navigate these turbulent waters, your appointments have often introduced additional controversy and division and abdicated their responsibilities.”

In their letter to Youngkin, the three senators add that they “intend to propose significant reforms to how visitors are nominated and confirmed in the 2026 [General Assembly] regular session and further appointments to these boards in the interim would be unwise.

“We therefore respectfully request that you suspend further appointments to these boards pending meaningful consultation with Senate leadership,” the Democratic senators’ letter concludes. “We stand ready to work with you to identify qualified nominees who can earn broad support and provide the stable governance our universities deserve. Virginia’s higher education system is too important to become a casualty of political discord.”

In June, eight Democrats on the Senate Privileges & Elections committee rejected former state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s appointment to U.Va.’s board, with committee chairman Sen. Aaron Rouse calling Cuccinelli “a Trump crony who is simply too extreme to have a role in shaping one of our commonwealth’s flagship universities.” That vote — and the Youngkin administration’s response — ultimately led to a court dispute.

In July, a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of nine Senate Democrats who sued the rectors of George Mason University, the University of Virginia and Virginia Military Institute to prevent them from recognizing eight earlier appointees rejected by the Democrat-controlled committee in an 8-4 party-line vote.

Republican state Attorney General Jason Miyares‘ office has appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court of Virginia, while Republican state senators have filed an amicus brief supporting Miyares’ argument. This week, attorneys for the Democratic senators filed their response to Miyares’ appeal, arguing that the appeal should be rejected.

The basic argument is whether the Senate committee, which votes on all of the governor’s appointments to boards, commissions and task forces, can force appointees off boards by itself during a special session, or if a full vote by the General Assembly is required, as Youngkin and Miyares argue.

Following Thursday’s vote, Youngkin issued the following statement: “In my view, a single Senate committee does not have the legal authority to perform duties that the Constitution and Code [of Virginia] explicitly assign to the full General Assembly. This important constitutional question is now before the Supreme Court of Virginia, and I am confident in our position.

The nine senators said they were forced to sue to block the eight rejected appointees because the governor and Miyares encouraged the three boards to recognize the eight rejected appointees as valid board members, an argument the circuit court judge agreed with in his ruling.

Republican Sen. Bill DeSteph, during Thursday’s committee meeting, asked, “Why wouldn’t we wait for the [state] Supreme Court to rule on this? It’s in front of them now.” He alleged that Senate Democrats were attempting to “usurp their authority, which again, we should not be allowed to do.”

Rouse responded, “We also have a job to do, and we will continue to do the job and the business of the people of the commonwealth.”