Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger sent a letter to the Board of Visitors Wednesday, asking them to delay the ongoing search for the University’s 10th president until she takes office. In the letter, Spanberger urged the Board to hold off on selecting finalists in the search and not to appoint a president until she has filled five current vacancies.
“I am deeply concerned by recent developments at the University of Virginia and how these challenges may impact the legitimacy of the current search for the University’s next president,” Spanberger wrote.
University Spokesperson Bethanie Glover said that the University is reviewing the letter, but did not indicate whether it would comply with Spanberger’s request.
“University leaders and the Board of Visitors are reviewing the letter and are ready to engage with the Governor-elect and to work alongside her and her team to advance the best interests of U.Va. and the Commonwealth,” Glover said.
Rector Rachel Sheridan and Vice Rector Porter Wilkinson did not respond to a request for comment.
The governor-elect said in the letter that she is asking the Board to hold off because of concerns over how it has governed the University, which she is an alumna of, in the months since former University President Jim Ryan resigned.
“Over the past six months, the actions of the Board of Visitors have severely undermined the public’s and the University community’s confidence in the Board’s ability to govern productively, transparently and in the best interests of the University,” Spanberger wrote.
Further, Spanberger said that the Board is in violation of statutory requirements, which she said calls the legitimacy of its decisions into question. While she did not provide specific reasons, others have called out the Board’s composition for not being in compliance with Virginia law, which requires a minimum number of Virginia residents. Only nine of the Board’s 12 current members are Virginia residents.
“That requirement is especially critical for the University of Virginia at this moment, and that legitimate and transparent process must be led by a Board that is fully constituted and commands the trust of the University community and the confidence of the citizens of the Commonwealth,” Spanberger wrote.
The University has previously said that it is in compliance with those requirements.
Since June, the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee has rejected five of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointees to the University’s Board, leaving vacant seats which the outgoing governor has not attempted to fill. When she takes office in January, Spanberger will have the opportunity to select her own appointees to the Board. She noted in her letter Wednesday that she plans to do so soon after her inauguration.
Because she has not been inaugurated, Spanberger does not appear to have direct authority to order the Board not to choose a new president. But when she does take office, she has the ability to fire current Board members and appoint new ones if she chooses, a power previously wielded by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in March when he fired former Board member Bert Ellis.
In the letter, Spanberger said waiting to choose a new president until she can fill vacancies would remove those questions about legitimacy and would make the search process itself more credible.
“I urge you to refrain from rushing this search process and from selecting the finalists for the presidency or a president until the Board is at full complement and in statutory compliance, meaning that I have appointed and the General Assembly has confirmed new Board members,” Spanberger wrote.
The first round of interviews for presidential candidates were slated to be conducted in Washington next week, according to records obtained by State Sen. Creigh Deeds through the Freedom of Information Act and shared with The Cavalier Daily by his office.
Confidence in the Board overall has come into question at the University since Ryan’s resignation. Spanberger noted in her letter that both Student Council and the Faculty Senate voted no confidence in the Board.
The Board has also faced pressure from both the federal and state government in 2025, as Senate Democrats turned up the pressure while the University was already under investigation from the Justice Department. Deeds suggested in an October letter that the University’s state funding could even be reviewed if it did not comply with his requests for more information about Ryan’s resignation.
Spanberger did not specify how she would handle University appointments and governance on the campaign trail, other than saying she hoped to reform the Board appointment process and change the role of the university counsel. Currently, the university counsel is appointed by the attorney general, but Spanberger suggested making their role independent of that office, instead working directly for their university.
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