CHARLOTTESVILLE — The Jefferson Council (TJC), a nonprofit alumni association formed to preserve the legacy of Thomas Jefferson and the free exchange of competing ideas at the University of Virginia, welcomes the five new members appointed by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors. We look forward to working with them to make UVA the premier public university in the country.
“We share Governor Youngkin’s goals of promoting free speech, intellectual diversity, and affordability at Virginia’s flagship university,” said TJC president Tom Neale. “Now that they occupy thirteen-of-seventeen Board seats, his appointees are finally in a position to advance his agenda.”
The new appointees — Daniel M. Brody, Marvin W. Gilliam Jr., David Okonkwo, David F. Webb, and Porter Wilkinson — bring great strengths to the board.
“These men and women are accomplished individuals in their business and professional fields, and we are confident they will make valuable additions to the UVA Board,” said TJC executive director Sam Richardson.
Notably, Marvin Gilliam has served previously on the Board of Visitors and currently serves on the College Board at UVA Wise. “University governance is very different from that of corporations and government. There is a steep learning curve for new board members,” Richardson said. “Gilliam will be able to contribute immediately.”
As an organization committed to those Jeffersonian principles which formed UVA 205 years ago, The Jefferson Council is prepared to serve as an independent source of information and analysis. We will soon be reaching out to all seventeen Board members with a packet of information on spending, tuition, free speech, and intellectual diversity issues that are important to Governor Youngkin.
The Jefferson Council is a nonprofit organization comprised of alumni and other UVA stakeholders committed to promoting a culture of civil dialogue, the free exchange of competing ideas, and intellectual diversity throughout the University; preserving the Jefferson Legacy; preserving the appearance of the Lawn as a UNESCO World Heritage site; and supporting and reinvigorating the Honor System.
Here are TJC’s “4 Pillars.”
How this could be deemed in any way antithetical to UVA’s best interests is ridiculous.
Nonetheless, the Faculty Senate announced TWO YEARS AGO on April 22, 2022, that it would oppose any attempt to change course – https://facultysenate.virginia.edu/resolution-support-academic-freedom
More recently, in May of this year the Faculty Senate passed this Resolution of Solidarity – https://facultysenate.virginia.edu/resolution-solidarity
I think it is pretty clear from these two that the faculty believes it is in charge of UVA. Perhaps it has been since blinking on Teresa Sullivan’s failed first removal. But that is not what the Law and the Board Manual state. “Academic freedom” presumes sticking to academics. I’m all for proper academic freedom, but academic freedom as “resistance” is part of UVA’s departure from its educational mission to follow truth wherever it may lead.