Youngkin, Senate Dems continue fight over university boards

Updated Sept. 10

A group of Virginia State Senate Democratic leaders informed leaders at George Mason University, the University of Virginia and the Virginia Military Institute that they are planning to hold public hearings on their campuses about the schools’ governance.

The senators also advise the U.Va. and GMU rectors and VMI’s superintendent to “seek independent legal counsel from a firm of the board’s choosing without any input from the attorney general, who consistently chooses law firms with clear political connections, to review all actions taken during any period when proper requirements were not met.”

The letter from Senate Majority Leader Scott A. Surovell, Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas and Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Mamie Locke informed the three university leaders of a Senate committee vote in August in which the Democratic majority rejected 14 appointees to the three universities’ boards. Although U.Va. and VMI still have enough confirmed board members for quorums, George Mason now has only six members, short of the eight required by state law for a quorum.

Addressing GMU Rector Charles “Cully” Stimson, U.Va. Rector Rachel W. Sheridan and VMI Superintendent David Furness, the senators wrote that the General Assembly plans to conduct “public oversight hearings at each of your universities in order to take public input regarding your actions and governance decisions,” but did not provide timing or additional details.

In response to the letter, Youngkin blasted the three senators in a post on X Tuesday.

“Virginia’s progressive left elected officials are trying to paralyze the governing boards of Virginia’s colleges and universities by using despicable bullying and intimidation tactics,” the governor wrote. “Their goal is clear: They want to stack the boards with their liberal friends who will openly defy federal anti-discrimination laws, promote protests and put student safety at risk, drive up costs for Virginia families, and make it harder for qualified Virginia students to gain admission to our great colleges and universities. Our boards should not be treated this way, and they will not be intimidated as they continue to follow the law.”

However, the governor did not respond publicly to an allegation by the three senators in a second letter sent Tuesday to George Mason’s Stimson, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation who was elected rector last summer, in which they call for him to recuse himself from voting or discussing with the board GMU President Gregory Washington’s employment status or DEI initiatives at the university, or else resign.

The senators say that Stimson’s ties to Heritage, which issued a Sept. 2 report recommending federal defunding of universities that allegedly evade the Trump administration‘s DEI clampdown, including George Mason, represent a conflict of interest as rector. (In August, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had found GMU violated civil rights law by favoring minority candidates in hiring; the university is reportedly currently negotiating a resolution with federal officials.)

The group of senators also allege that this Heritage connection may have prompted the governor to back Stimson as rector last summer.

“The appearance of impropriety is compounded by the fact that your selection as rector reportedly occurred only after direct intervention by Gov. Youngkin, raising questions about whether your Heritage Foundation affiliation influenced that appointment,” the senators wrote.

The governor’s office referred to Youngkin’s statement on X when asked about this allegation and did not immediately respond to a follow-up email seeking clarification.

Stimson also did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday, but a person familiar with the situation Wednesday provided an email Stimson sent to the three senators, saying that he is “completely committed to my continued service as rector. The board is fully focused on our fiduciary duties to GMU and the commonwealth, securing the university’s funding and ensuring it continues to make all Virginians proud as a world-class academic institution.”

The email goes on to detail Stimson’s background as an active-duty and reserve member of the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps. “Those experiences, and others, have required me to put my personal opinions aside and serve impartially and with integrity,” Stimson wrote. “Since the House of Delegates and the Senate approved my appointment without a single vote of opposition in either chamber, I have brought this same skill to my service to the university. I can attest that my fellow board members do the same.”

He also wrote that his work for the Heritage Foundation on national security and crime policy “has no connection to Heritage’s education policy work. Since my appointment to the Board of Visitors, I have made certain that I am fully walled off from Heritage’s work concerning education policy, especially GMU. I strongly reject the premise that any citizen of our commonwealth should be disqualified from public service simply because some elected officials may disagree with statements or articles attributed to other private individuals who happen to work for the same employer.”