No confidence
It’s homecoming week at Virginia Wesleyan University, but we alumni don’t feel like we have a home anymore.
In August, VWU announced that it will be renaming itself Batten University to honor long-time mega-donor Jane Batten. The announcement shocked us. We know and appreciate the Batten family’s investment in VWU, but sacrificing our identity, history and heritage in honor of one single donor is extreme — so extreme that even Jane Batten admitted to having to be “talked into it” over time.
At no time during the renaming process were alumni outside of the inner-workings of VWU consulted. We consider this an insult by a place we’ve helped build by taking its name into the world with us personally and professionally. University president Scott D. Miller has called us “mean-spirited” for protesting and petitioning against the name change, and that the decision is “final.” Alienating the alumni is like cutting the line to your own ship’s anchor: irresponsible and reckless, for an anchor is only as strong as each link in its chain.
We can’t officially call for a vote of “no confidence,” so consider this a symbolic one. We think the Board of Trustees and Miller need to be held accountable for making an incredibly bad decision regarding the future of VWU. It’s not too late to change course — to be like Cracker Barrel and recognize that our heritage is our identity and, more simply, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Jessica Bartee Thompson, VWU Class of ‘94, Huntersville, N.C.
Vote for balance
By voting for the 7-3-1 Virginia Beach election system in this November’s referendum, citizens will get the best of both choices on the ballot. The 7-3-1 cures the shortcomings of the 10-1 and the all at-large system that preceded it.
The old system diluted the influence of a minority population that grew a lot over the last few decades. It required expensive advertising campaigns, discouraging ordinary citizens from running. And it tended to fix the focus of council members primarily on citywide issues at the expense of neighborhood ones.
The election reform of four years ago went too far. It carved the city into 10 political islands. These have fewer people to get to know and serve. So far, so good. Also good is the extra clout that minorities have in the three or four districts in which many of them live. Another benefit is that running for office is a lot cheaper, opening up more people to political service.
So, why not keep it as it is? The 10-1 has a big flaw: It diminishes the clout of the places where our economic engines generate our taxes. The tourism industry at the Oceanfront. Our farms in Pungo, Creeds and Blackwater. Our commercial and industrial centers at Lynnhaven and Town Center. Our Navy bases. The 10-1 tends to reward a council member’s attention to hyper-local issues over these future-facing issues, such as infrastructure, economic development and the environment.
The 7-3-1 — seven political islands, not 10 — still puts most power in the neighborhoods. But most importantly, the 7-3-1 creates a better balance between the interests of the whole city and its parts.
Dennis Hartig, Virginia Beach
Extreme
How extreme is Del. Amanda Batten, the incumbent representing House District 71? One vote says it all.
House Bill 1716, proposed during the 2025 session, would have established a legal right to contraception. Batten voted “no.” She wants to take Virginia back to the 1950s.
Her opponent, Jessica Anderson, will protect the right to contraception and other reproductive rights.
Anderson is a hard-working mom and employee of Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools. We need her voice in Richmond.
Early voting is underway now. Vote for Anderson. She’ll be a delegate we can all be proud of.
William Sizemore, James City County