Abigail Spanberger is calling for changes to how Virginia’s college boards are filled and who represents those colleges’ interests in court.
The former 7th District representative and current Democratic nominee for governor was hosted by the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia Tuesday, where she fielded questions from students regarding UVa’s governing Board of Visitors, protests and demonstrations on Grounds, and the future of diversity, equity and inclusion policies in higher education in the commonwealth.
The questions — and Spanberger’s answers — carried added weight after the resignation of UVa President Jim Ryan in July under pressure from the Trump administration Justice Department over his handling of DEI at the university, as well as Ryan’s decision in May 2024 to crack down on pro-Palestine protests on Grounds.
Spanberger said Virginia universities can be vulnerable to federal overreach if they don’t have boards willing to push back. The Trump administration made an example of UVa, she said.
“We had a board that was willing to just stand by while attack after attack came, and we have a system that doesn’t allow the university to either defend itself with its own attorneys, or frankly even bring in outside counsel. And so there is a real clear need to make some fortifications in the system,” she said.
Spanberger said changes are needed to how college board members are appointed and that university counsel should be moved out of the attorney general’s office.
The governor of Virginia appoints members to Virginia’s college boards for four-year terms. The appointments are staggered throughout the governor’s own four years in office, so that by the end of the governor’s single term, college boards are, ostensibly, fully appointed by the last governor before the next one takes office. Appointments must be confirmed by lawmakers in the General Assembly, though board members may take their seats beforehand as they await approval.
That last step in the process has been a point of contention between Democrats and Republicans in Richmond.
Democratic lawmakers have taken Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin to court after a state Senate committee refused to approve Youngkin’s recent slate of college appointments. Democratic committee members claim that means those appointments can not be seated, but Youngkin and Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares claim that the full General Assembly and not a single committee can nix appointments.
“Unfortunately, UVa is the example where we saw weaknesses in the system that we have here in Virginia,” Spanberger said of the debacle, without elaborating on what changes could be made to avoid future courtroom drama.
When asked about DEI, Spanberger said it is important for hiring managers, whether they be in the governor’s office or at UVa, to consider every candidate’s background.
“In my administration, I want to have the strongest state government possible, and that means ensuring that we are looking at things from every single angle,” she said.
Ryan departed Grounds in July after the Trump administration accused him of slow-walking and misrepresenting his efforts to dismantle DEI at UVa, despite being ordered by the White House and his Board of Visitors to do exactly that. The Trump administration threatened to withhold funding to the college should Ryan not follow orders.
But Ryan is far from a hero of the left.
In May of 2024, liberals targeted Ryan for calling in armed state troopers to break up a group of roughly two dozen people, including his own students, protesting on Grounds. The protesters were calling on UVa to divest from Israel amid that country’s ongoing war with Palestinian terror group Hamas. Hours before the crackdown, UVa administrators quickly changed guidelines for “camping” on Grounds that would allow them to remove the protester who had stayed up overnight.
Spanberger said while expressing oneself is an important part of the college experience, colleges have every right to impose rules that limit the time and place of that expression — siding with the Ryan administration.
“I think that it is appropriate for university campuses to put certain parameters in place, whether it’s time frames, whether it’s prohibitions on camping out on Grounds and the like, but that there be very clear ability for students to express themselves within a larger university community. And that may look very different on UVa Grounds versus another university,” she said.
Speaking on her race for the Executive Mansion, Spanberger emphasized trademarks of her career in Congress and her campaign: stability and bipartisanship.
“I’ve had members of the media along the way say things like, ‘You’re not very exciting,'” she recounted. “I’m never going to be coolest on TikTok, and I’m OK with that, because … I’m trying to be someone who’s working to govern.”
“I think the best thing that I can and will do as governor is to demonstrate and model the type of just civic focus, commitment to commonwealth and country that I think our country and, frankly, the people of Virginia deserve,” she added.
Spanberger, who was previously ranked the most bipartisan member of Virginia’s delegation to Congress, stressed that bipartisanship is what makes for effective governance in a state that has been considered “purple” since 2008.
“It’s important to recognize that there has to be a level of intentionality about trying to find common ground, or trying to bring more people to the table,” she said. “I think, as governor, it would be incumbent upon me that I might be a Democrat who’s elected, but I want to work with members of the General Assembly from across Virginia on the issues that matter to them. And frankly, I’ve been grateful that there have been Republican members in the General Assembly who’ve been willing to have conversations.”
That has not been the message shared by Spanberger’s opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.
While Republican John Reid, the former Richmond radio host running to fill Earle-Sears’ seat, has made a point of being cordial to Spanberger at public events and echoing her calls for civility and bipartisanship, Earle-Sears has not.
Earle-Sears has claimed and issued ads claiming Spanberger would allow transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports — an issue that Spanberger has avoided on the campaign trail and has said should be left up to school divisions and sports leagues when pressed.
Earle-Sears has also claimed that Spanberger is running her campaign on the back of a successful Republican administration.
“That’s interesting,” Earle-Sears said. “Because she was not at the table when any of these deals were made. She was never consulted, and her ideology would not have gotten her where we are.”
Early Voting in Virginia began this week. The general election is scheduled for Nov. 4.
David Velazquez (919) 612-7026
david.velazquez@dailyprogress.com
@velazqdave on X
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