This story was reported and written by VPM News.
Several Virginia lawmakers have put forth legislation to reform how the governing boards at the state's public colleges operate, following a tumultuous year for higher education across the state and country. Some of those reforms advanced out of House of Delegates and state Senate committees this week, while others were left behind in subcommittee discussions on Monday.
Last year, former University of Virginia President Jim Ryan was pressured to resign amid numerous federal investigations into the alleged use of race in admissions decisions. George Mason University's president, Gregory Washington, also came under attack by federal officials (though he ultimately kept his job), and the board of the Virginia Military Institute ousted its first Black superintendent, retired Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins, a decision that was decried by state Democrats as part of a conservative pushback against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Del. Katrina Callsen (D–Charlottesville) and state Sen. Scott Surovell (D–Fairfax) proposed a comprehensive reform package that, in its initial iteration, would have overhauled the structure of boards, term lengths, the appointment process, the ability for boards to appoint independent legal counsel and more.
Callsen told VPM News the goal of her legislation is to prevent political interference with board decisions: "[Donald] Trump's presidency and the chaos that is happening in Washington really has trickled down into our state schools, and I want to protect them."
On Monday, some aspects of her and Surovell's legislation were rolled into a bill from state Sen. Creigh Deeds (D–Charlottesville). Deeds said the situation at UVA this past summer with Ryan's resignation led him to introduce legislation to "create a wall between the partisan world and the academic world."
Language moving forward in the Senate would change the term length of boards from four to six years, and would require board members to be formally confirmed by the General Assembly before beginning to serve. However, language allowing student and faculty board representatives to vote and universities to hire independent legal counsel was axed.
Legislation from Del. Lily Franklin (D–Montgomery) — pushed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger — is moving forward in the House. On Monday, it was also watered down to remove language granting colleges the right to appoint independent legal counsel.
Other legislation proposing voting rights for student and faculty board representatives was also axed in the House Higher Education subcommittee.
Legislation in the House would codify a Fairfax County court ruling that if the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee rejects a board member appointed by the governor, that constitutes the General Assembly refusing to confirm that appointee. Last November, the Supreme Court of Virginia declined to hear a challenge to that ruling.
The current House language would also spell out rules detailing when appointed board members could begin serving — even when not yet formally confirmed by the General Assembly; the Senate proposal states that members can't serve until lawmakers confirm them.
Franklin said there's still a lot of work to do to ensure the House and Senate agree on what language to ultimately move forward with this year.
"This bill is just the main vehicle for what's going to ultimately pass," Franklin told VPM News. "I think all of the stakeholders around higher education and all the elected leadership … we're all interested in making sure our boards of visitors are the best they can be."
Longer term limits
Currently, Virginia college board members are only appointed for no more than two consecutive four-year terms.
Law students with UVA's State and Local Government Policy Clinic conducted research for Surovell and Callsen's legislation, and reported that many states have longer board term lengths than Virginia. They recommended the commonwealth increase board term lengths to six years, which would put the commonwealth more in line with other states.
"The idea of that is that you don't want a single governor to be able to appoint a whole board," said Andy Block, a UVA law professor and director of the policy clinic.
Lizzie Shaw, a UVA law student who worked on the research, told VPM News she was happy to be a part of "what is probably step No. 1 in a lot of changes that are going to be really great for the University of Virginia and for all of Virginia's public universities."
"It became clear that something about our governing structures needed to change," she said.
The provision to extend board terms to six years is still advancing in the Senate, but isn't included in the House bill that's moving forward. However, it's unclear whether Spanberger would support making changes to term limits this year.
The governor issued an executive order on her first day in office that directs the secretary of education and the secretary of the commonwealth to prepare a report by mid-March recommending legislative changes to the board of visitors appointment process — including the term length.
A spokesperson from Spanberger's office declined to comment about what additional aspects of reform she might be willing to entertain this session.
Shared governance
Virginia law already requires public colleges and universities to have non-voting student representatives on their boards, but many other states allow their student members to vote. Another bill from Franklin would've given student representatives on Virginia college boards voting rights.
"If you're trusting a student to cut a check for $20,000 a year, I think we can also trust them to also have a say in how that money should be spent," Franklin told VPM News.
Del. Amy Laufer (D–Albemarle) introduced a similar bill that would require boards to include voting faculty and staff members as well. Neither bill survived a subcommittee hearing Monday. However, legislation is advancing in the Senate to mandate staff and faculty board representatives — but not voting ones.
Multiple groups, including UVA's chapter of the American Association of University Professors and student council, supported the proposals for increased representation and voting rights, arguing they further their vision for what true shared governance at public colleges should look like.
However, it got pushback from others — like Ross A. Mugler, president of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, who expressed legal and confidentiality concerns with allowing students and faculty to vote.
Franklin said "it isn't the end" of conversations about this issue.
"It only makes sense and corrects the oversight that students and faculty should have a say in what happens at the universities," she told VPM News.
Independent legal representation
Research from UVA law students found Virginia to be one of the only states that mandates its attorney general's office serve as legal counsel for its public universities. (University general counsels are appointed by and report to the attorney general.)
Ben Weis, another UVA law student who helped with the research, said the situation in Virginia "is very atypical" — and found the "overwhelming majority of states" allow universities to retain their own independent legal counsel.
Surovell and Callsen's legislation aimed to give public university boards the right to do so, while still allowing them the option to ask the attorney general's office for legal help.
The proposal would still require the attorney general's office to be involved in cases dealing with settlements exceeding $5 million or agreements with the federal departments of Education and Justice.
Tim Heaphy, a former UVA counsel who was let go by former Attorney General Jason Miyares, spoke in support of colleges' right to independent counsel Monday and also spoke with VPM News about his experience.
He said he was on leave while running Congress' Jan. 6 investigation when Miyares decided to replace him with his own "hand-picked counsel."
"UVA was upset with that and objected, and said, 'We want to keep our lawyer. We're satisfied with Tim.' And he said, 'Doesn't matter, it's my choice,'" Heaphy said.
He said regardless of who is in the governor's office, university boards should have the ability to select outside counsel.
"I am a Democrat. I was on Attorney General [Jay] Jones' transition team. I think he'll be an outstanding attorney general. I don't believe he should have control over who is representing UVA or other schools," Heaphy told VPM News. "We need to remove electoral pressures and politics from higher education."
However, Jones' office is opposed to the change.
"Allowing a university to employ its own counsel could create greater opportunity for an ideologically stacked board to align with its counsel, to give it advice that it wants to hear," Allyson Tysinger, the deputy attorney general for health, education and social services, told lawmakers Monday.
Similar legislation to grant universities the right to independent legal counsel cleared the General Assembly in 2024, but was vetoed by former Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Multiple Democratic senators voted in support of the 2024 legislation, but punted on endorsing the reforms this year under a Democratic attorney general — instead opting for the State Council on Higher Education of Virginia to study the issue. (The House bill now calls for the attorney general's office to convene a task force to study the issue of independent legal counsel and issue recommendations to lawmakers by Nov. 1.)
State Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg (D–Henrico), one of the legislators to support independent legal counsel in 2024 but not in 2026, said he thinks universities having their own lawyers is a good idea, but understands why people have "complicated feelings about it."
"I think there was this idea of … on some of the stickier stuff, we should take a beat, and we should look through it in more detail," VanValkenburg told VPM News.
If the issue is ultimately studied, he said, "it's a legitimate attempt to get it right," noting that SCHEV should be the group to study it.
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