The tussle over democratic control of Virginia’s public universities is turning into a royal rumble. Last week a committee of the state Senate, controlled by Democrats, held a brief meeting to reject 14 of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointees to three college boards, on top of eight voted down in June. Republicans argue this action is a legal nullity. Next up, the state Supreme Court?
The president of the University of Virginia resigned recently under Trump Administration pressure over the school’s diversity initiatives. George Mason University (GMU) is under similar heat, after the Education Department found it was “illegally using race” in hiring. State Sen. Aaron Rouse, the Democratic committee chair, claims the moves from Washington aren’t about civil rights but “dismantling public education to advance a partisan agenda.”
Dismantling? Partisan agenda? If the rejections hold for Mr. Youngkin’s 22 picks, GMU will have 10 vacancies of 16 board seats, meaning it generally lacks a quorum to do business, though some governance decisions can be made by its executive committee.
The people voted down weren’t yahoos. At GMU, they include Charles Cooper, a prominent D.C. litigator, Maureen Ohlhausen, who sat on the Federal Trade Commission, and Will Moschella, former principal associate deputy attorney general. Democrats hope their gubernatorial nominee, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, wins in November so she can fill the openings instead.