Nine of the University’s 14 academic deans wrote a letter to the Board of Visitors Monday, asking the Board to postpone selecting the 10th president until the Board establishes necessary “conditions of trust.”
The deans wrote that appointing a president now, even with qualified candidates, would immediately create questions over that person’s legitimacy to serve.
“It is critical to recognize that a president appointed amidst the current swirl of unresolved governance questions would start their tenure under a cloud,” the deans wrote. “Their legitimacy would be questioned by many within and beyond our community, and their mandate and effectiveness would be compromised.”
In the letter, the deans cited low confidence in leadership and outside pressures as reasons for the postponement.
“In light of related Faculty Senate resolutions, multiple letters from concerned faculty and alumni, the November 12 letter to the BOV from Governor-elect Spanberger, the November 13 letter in response from Governor Youngkin, plus our own conversations with hundreds of university stakeholders and Virginia policy makers, we believe the risks of a quick appointment far outweigh any benefits,” the deans wrote.
For those reasons, the deans said that naming a president should be paused until the Board can establish the “conditions of trust” necessary for the next president to succeed.
A majority of the academic deans sending a letter to the Board adds to the growing number of calls for the search process or naming of a president to be delayed in some way.
The letter comes after Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger wrote to the Board Nov. 12 asking them to pause the naming of a president until takes office and can fill vacancies on the Board. She pointed to observations that the Code of Virginia requires the Board to have 12 Virginia residents, and it currently only has nine. The University has said it is in compliance with Virginia law, but did not comment further on the allegations when asked in September.
Spanberger’s letter, as the deans reference, was followed by a letter from Gov. Glenn Youngkin which challenged her authority to make any demands of the Board, as well as a Faculty Senate resolution asking the search committee to pause its search process.
The chair of the external search firm conducting the search — Isaacson, Miller — later wrote back to the Faculty Senate saying it will move ahead with the search, calling the current candidates “extraordinality impressive,” as the deans note in their letter. The deans also point out that the committee is not yet at the point of selecting finalists.
In a statement to The Cavalier Daily, University Spokesperson Bethanie Glover said the Board is reviewing the deans’ letter and directed The Cavalier Daily to the Isaacson, Miller letter with the most recent update on the search.
The deans’ letter was signed by Christa Acampora, dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Marianne Barenholdt, dean of the School of Nursing; Philip Bourne, dean of the School of Data Science; Malo Hutson, dean of the School of Architecture; Leo Lo, dean of libraries; Melissa Lubin, dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies; Stephanie Rowley, dean of the School of Education and Human Development; Ian Solomon, dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and Jennifer West, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The Cavalier Daily reached out to all nine signatories for comment. Two deans — Solomon and Baernholdt — said the letter speaks for itself, while only Lubin provided an additional statement at the time of publication.
“By allowing time in the search process for our Board of Visitors to cultivate transparency, integrity, and open dialogue, we ensure that our next president will have the support and inspiration needed to guide our remarkable institution into a future with renewed confidence,” Lubin said.
Five of the University’s 14 academic deans did not sign the letter — Scott Beardsley, dean of the Darden School of Business; Amanda Cowen, interim dean of the McIntire School of Commerce; Colin Derdeyn, interim dean of the School of Medicine; Gregory Fairchild, dean of U.Va. Northern Virginia and Leslie Kendrick, dean of the School of Law.
The five deans who did not sign the letter did not respond to a request for comment.
Twelve of the deans sent a letter to the Board in July right after former University President Jim Ryan’s resignation. In that letter, which they reference in Monday’s letter, the deans wrote that they hoped to work together with the Board and called for transparency. They also offered to meet with the Board, which they offer again in Monday’s letter.
Those twelve signatories included the same as Monday’s letter, as well as Kendrick, Cowen and Fairchild.
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