Earnest engagement is not represented by scheduled listening opportunities, but by an unceasing and unreserved dedication to connecting with community members who presently feel so ignored.
Our articles are typically published under the monolithic title of “EDITORIAL.” This article, however, intends to capture the parts of the whole — the seven students behind the sign-off.
Furthermore, it is hard to ignore that the unanimous vote elevating Beardsley to the University’s top role was undertaken by a Board that is seemingly not legally constituted.
Mahoney’s position throughout his term has been one of deference — a deference that, amidst community protests, denigrates the role of a University president as authentically representing their community.
When transparency becomes a tool rather than a principle, governance itself becomes a performance rather than a practice.
Spanberger must recognize the importance of moderation, which uplifts, not denigrates, the institutional autonomy of universities like our own.
This year’s protests and activism have underlined a new scope of student activism at the University — one that has brought together groups and individuals who might not typically partake in political advocacy.
Last week, this Editorial Board was prepared to applaud Interim University President Paul Mahoney’s decision to reject the Trump administration’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.
The external, federal challenges we face demand statewide leadership that understands and acts to protect academic autonomy and shared governance.
Losing the U.S. Attorneys for Virginia in such rapid succession destabilizes consistency in our legal prosecutors for leading legal cases, creating gaps in the knowledge and management of daily operations.
This Compact plants the seed for further federal interference in student affairs and free speech, and it threatens to cancel all federal funding should the University sign the Compact and fail to adhere to its demands.
The mire that CCS and other institutions find themselves in as a result of the federal government’s actions will imperil the future operation of these vital programs and bodies if funding is not established on a more predictable basis.
The degree of alumni involvement in the Honor the Future campaign speaks to the importance of shared governance — student involvement in critical governance matters creates a culture of connection to and collaboration with the University that engenders a desire among alumni to support their alma mater.
The destabilizing consequences of the present appointment process have revealed critical and unsustainable fault lines that rest within our political system.
With these recommendations, we wish the University a great and good academic year — a year which will take significant administrative repair to heal this institution after some of its darkest hours.
Honor is still a staple of the student vocabulary — just more often as a facetious justification for leaving one’s backpack unattended than as a true rationale for remaining academically honest.
The self-serving actions of the Board are not just harmful to students and faculty today, but they are harmful to our institution as a whole and the future president who will be invited to lead it.
As it stands, students will be returning to Grounds with no concrete sense of who will be at the helm of this institution and little reason to trust the governing body, which has made no attempt to explain or justify its actions.
The University is the first institution to lose their president as a result of dramatic and unprecedented federal intervention. But we will not be the last.
Youngkin cannot be held responsible for the attacks like that in Culpeper, but he can play a powerful role in preventing this disease of hatred from spreading.
