Editor’s Note: This letter was sent Feb. 19 via email to the Board of Visitors, University President Scott Beardsley and Faculty Senate leadership before it was published as a guest piece in The Cavalier Daily. There are 191 University-affiliated signatories.
These last months have been momentous ones for the University of Virginia. A Board of Visitors appointed by outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin forced the resignation of former University President Jim Ryan in June 2025, and then chose to proceed hastily with a flawed and unprecedentedly secretive presidential search and a similarly flawed search for a provost. They succeeded only by ignoring the voices of all major stakeholders calling for a pause ahead of the most important obligation any Board has — to choose a person to lead the University. Vocal opposition to the Board’s actions did not stop the appointment, but it did help reveal how corrupt the process had become. That revelation led incoming Gov. Abigail Spanberger to ask for the resignation of five members of the Board. All five have since resigned.
We are delighted that we have a newly reconstituted and fully staffed Board. But it is important to realize that the replenishment of the Board is not the end of our difficulties — it only prepares the way for the repairs that now must be done. The new Board must uncover what has happened that led to these hasty and improper processes. It must also pause the provost search and restart the presidential search.
Critical questions of process regarding the appointment of Beardsley remain unanswered. What effects did the previous Board’s irregularities have on the search process? Did it constrict the pool of willing applicants? If so, what confidence can we have that the best candidate was chosen? If not, how did Beardsley end up the top candidate? What role did Isaacson, Miller play in propping up a process that became all but a sham by the end? Did John Isaacson reveal his own prior decade-long relationship with Beardsley? If so, to whom? If not, why not?
A second critical issue has emerged since the appointment. What explains the extraordinary “poison-pill contract” given to Beardsley? These sorts of contracts are generally confined to highly antagonistic corporate settings, or hostile takeovers. It is unusual, perhaps unprecedented, for such a contract to be used in appointing a president by the University’s governing Board, the more so because we are a public institution. By making it prohibitively expensive to dismiss Beardsley, the contract effectively undercuts the Board’s, and by extension the Governor’s, the legislature’s and the taxpayers’, right and obligation to oversee the operations of the University.
Some media attention has been given to how anomalous this contract is. But our concerns regarding the contract are about how it actually impinges upon the Board and its authority. The Board has always had plenary power to dismiss the president without any added cost for exercising its authority. This contract, by imposing a substantial additional sum in the event that the Board dismisses the president without cause, encumbers the Board’s decision-making power in an unprecedented way. Accepting the contract therefore risks upending University tradition and resetting University policy, with potential long-term implications for how the University is governed. Ratifying this novel legal strategy would undercut the very idea of a public university serving the public interest of the Commonwealth.
We recognize the need to move forward. Some will say that we should just get on with recovering from a bruising period. We understand the impulse. The work of the University must continue. But as the faculty of the University, we have a responsibility, rooted in shared governance, to address a situation with the potential to shape our community for years to come. We urge the incoming Board and the University community to refuse the temptation to accept this unprecedented state of affairs. The previous rump Board’s deeply cynical actions should not be allowed to stand.
The new Board, now in statutory compliance and wholly legitimate, must not only ask basic questions about what happened over the past eight months — it must act to correct them and restore the trust upon which the long-term prospects of the University depends.
To Mr. Beardsley — we hope that upon reflection you may choose to reevaluate your position. The outgoing Board made clear its disdain for process, history, tradition and the University’s best interests. You have benefited directly from that decision and the way it was reached. But even now you may reject their agenda and agree to reset the process in the best interest of the University and in consultation with the new Board and the University community. The presidency of this University is not one to be taken up under so dark a cloud. Doing so will only deepen the crisis into which we have been plunged, even as it threatens long-term harm to our governance and to the University’s independence. We urge you to summon your better angels.
The signatories of this letter are listed below and number 191. They can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
The opinions expressed in this guest letter are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. The letter represents the views of the signatories alone.
Gabrielle Adams, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
Nate Adams, College of Arts and Sciences
Michael Allen, College of Arts and Sciences
Samuel Amago, College of Arts and Sciences
Jessica Andruss, College of Arts and Sciences
Stephen Arata, College of Arts and Sciences
David Auble, School of Medicine
Victoria Baena, College of Arts and Sciences
Rajesh Balkrishnan, College of Arts and Sciences
Brian Balogh, College of Arts and Sciences
Elizabeth Barnes, College of Arts and Sciences
Charles Barzun, School of Law
Anja Katrin Bielinsky, School of Medicine
Aniko Bodroghkozy, College of Arts and Sciences
Trey Boone, College of Arts and Sciences
Alison Booth, College of Arts and Sciences
Josh Bowers, School of Law
Erik Braun, College of Arts and Sciences
Herbert Braun, College of Arts and Sciences
Butch Brodie, College of Arts and Sciences
Emily Burrill, College of Arts and Sciences
John H. Bushweller, School of Medicine
Francesca Calamita, College of Arts and Sciences
Ross Cameron, College of Arts and Sciences
Jon Cannon, School of Law
J. David Castle, School of Medicine
Enrico Cesaretti, College of Arts and Sciences
Sumita Chakraborty, College of Arts and Sciences
Mrinalini Chakravorty, College of Arts and Sciences
G.A. Chaussée, College of Arts and Sciences
Jack Chen, College of Arts and Sciences
Sylvia Chong, College of Arts and Sciences
James Coan, College of Arts and Sciences
Ellen Contini-Morava, College of Arts and Sciences
Anthony Corbeill, College of Arts and Sciences
Janay Crabtree, College of Arts and Sciences
Stephen Cushman, College of Arts and Sciences
Fred Damon, College of Arts and Sciences
Eve Danziger, College of Arts and Sciences
Zygmunt S. Derewenda, School of Medicine
Dudley Doane, International Studies Office
Rita Dove, College of Arts and Sciences
E. Franklin Dukes, School of Architecture
Kevin Duong, College of Arts and Sciences
John Echeverri-Gent, College of Arts and Sciences
Mark Edmundson, College of Arts and Sciences
Edward Egelman, School of Medicine
Daniel Ehnbom, College of Arts and Sciences
María Esparza Rodríguez, College of Arts and Sciences
Tessa Farmer, College of Arts and Sciences
Robert Fatton, College of Arts and Sciences
Rita Felski, College of Arts and Sciences
Francesca Fiorani, College of Arts and Sciences
Elizabeth Fowler, College of Arts and Sciences
Susan Fraiman, College of Arts and Sciences
Kevin Gaines, College of Arts and Sciences
James N. Galloway, School of Medicine
Jennifer Geddes, College of Arts and Sciences
Piers Gelly, College of Arts and Sciences
David Germano, College of Arts and Sciences
David Gies, School of Law
Lawrence O. Goedde, Fralin Museum of Art
Greg Schmidt Goering, College of Arts and Sciences
Lisa Goff, College of Arts and Sciences
Laura Goldblatt, College of Arts and Sciences
Bonnie Gordon, College of Arts and Sciences
Jeff Grossman, College of Arts and Sciences
Leigh B. Grossman, School of Medicine
Barry Gumbiner, School of Medicine
Mark Hadley, College of Arts and Sciences
Grace Elizabeth Hale, College of Arts and Sciences
Paul Halliday, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Law
Martien Halvorson-Taylor, College of Arts and Sciences
Richard Handler, College of Arts and Sciences
Gregory Hays, College of Arts and Sciences
Matthew Hedstrom, College of Arts and Sciences
Walter Heinecke, School of Education and Human Development
Natasha Heller, College of Arts and Sciences
Eric A. Hendrickson, School of Medicine
James Daryn Henry, College of Arts and Sciences
Ira Herbst, College of Arts and Sciences
Gerald Higginbotham, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
William I. Hitchcock, College of Arts and Sciences
Cynthia Hoehler-Fatton, College of Arts and Sciences
Stephen C. E. Hopkins, College of Arts and Sciences
James M. Howe, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Noelle Hurd, College of Arts and Sciences
Paul Jones, College of Arts and Sciences
Walter Jost, College of Arts and Sciences
Andrew Kahrl, College of Arts and Sciences
William Keene, College of Arts and Sciences
Dan Kinney, College of Arts and Sciences
Matthew Kirschenbaum, College of Arts and Sciences
Michelle Kisliuk, College of Arts and Sciences
George Klosko, College of Arts and Sciences
Thomas Klubock, College of Arts and Sciences
J. D. La Fleur, College of Arts and Sciences
Adria LaViolette, College of Arts and Sciences
Eric Leeper, College of Arts and Sciences
Mel Leffler, College of Arts and Sciences
Manuel Lerdau, School of Medicine
Erik Linstrum, College of Arts and Sciences
Antonia LoLordo, College of Arts and Sciences
Alicia López-Operé, College of Arts and Sciences
Victor Luftig, College of Arts and Sciences
Claire Lyu, College of Arts and Sciences
Anne Garland Mahler, College of Arts and Sciences
Christine Mahoney, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
Aron S. Marie, College of Arts and Sciences
Charles Marsh, College of Arts and Sciences
Worthy Martin, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Charles Mathewes, College of Arts and Sciences
Fred Everett Maus, College of Arts and Sciences
Katharine Eisaman Maus, College of Arts and Sciences
Cliff Maxwell, College of Arts and Sciences
Jerome McGann, College of Arts and Sciences
Deborah McGrady, College of Arts and Sciences
Mary McKinley, College of Arts and Sciences
Susan McKinnon, College of Arts and Sciences
George Mentore, College of Arts and Sciences
Erik Midelfort, College of Arts and Sciences
Amalia Miller, College of Arts and Sciences
Sarah Milov, College of Arts and Sciences
Alexander Motchoulski, College of Arts and Sciences
K. Sara Myers, College of Arts and Sciences
Shankar Nair, College of Arts and Sciences
John Nemec, College of Arts and Sciences
Paulina Ochoa Espejo, College of Arts and Sciences
Vanessa Ochs, College of Arts and Sciences
Amy Ogden, College of Arts and Sciences
Victoria Olwell, College of Arts and Sciences
Peter S. Onuf, College of Arts and Sciences
Walter Ott, College of Arts and Sciences
Brian Owensby, College of Arts and Sciences
Ricardo Padrón, College of Arts and Sciences
Deborah Parker, College of Arts and Sciences
John Parker, College of Arts and Sciences
Karen Parshall, College of Arts and Sciences
Brad Pasanek, College of Arts and Sciences
Olivier Pfister, College of Arts and Sciences
Simone Polillo, College of Arts and Sciences
Dennis Proffitt, College of Arts and Sciences
Michael J. Puri, College of Arts and Sciences
Benjamin Purow, School of Medicine
Ling Qi, School of Medicine
Jahan Ramazani, College of Arts and Sciences
Bradly Reed, College of Arts and Sciences
Lisa Reilly, School of Architecture
Pamela DeVries Rini, College of Arts and Sciences
Debbie Roach, College of Arts and Sciences
Caroline Rody, College of Arts and Sciences
Charlotte Rogers, College of Arts and Sciences
Gillet Rosenblith, College of Arts and Sciences
Chris Ruhm, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
Noah Salomon, College of Arts and Sciences
Mohammed Sawaie, College of Arts and Sciences
Kurtis R. Schaeffer, College of Arts and Sciences
Cora Schenberg, College of Arts and Sciences
Taylor Schey, College of Arts and Sciences
Leonard Schoppa, College of Arts and Sciences
Rich Schragger, School of Law
Mark Schwartz, College of Arts and Sciences
Jorge Secada, College of Arts and Sciences
Jennifer Sessions, College of Arts and Sciences
John Shepherd, College of Arts and Sciences
Lois Shepherd, School of Law, School of Medicine
Sandhya Shukla, College of Arts and Sciences
David Singerman, College of Arts and Sciences
Michael Joseph Smith, College of Arts and Sciences
Avril Somlyo, School of Medicine
Janet Spittler, College of Arts and Sciences
Michael Suarez, College of Arts and Sciences
Samhita Sunya, College of Arts and Sciences
Brian Teare, College of Arts and Sciences
Crystal Toll, School of Nursing
Herbert Tucker, College of Arts and Sciences
Elizabeth Hutton Turner, College of Arts and Sciences
Siva Vaidhyanathan, College of Arts and Sciences
Penny Von Eschen, College of Arts and Sciences
Denise Walsh, College of Arts and Sciences
Patricia Wattenmaker, College of Arts and Sciences
Judith M. White, School of Medicine
Stephen K. White, College of Arts and Sciences
Bruce A. Williams, College of Arts and Sciences
Timothy D. Wilson, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
Nicholas Winter, College of Arts and Sciences
Lisa Woolfork, College of Arts and Sciences
William Wylie, College of Arts and Sciences
Chan Choo Yap, School of Medicine
Chongzhi Zang, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Medicine
Jochen Zimmer, School of Medicine
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