The head of the board overseeing the University of Virginia and two other top board members, including a major donor to the school, resigned on Friday under pressure from the state’s incoming Democratic governor, according to two people briefed on the matter and letters obtained by The New York Times.
The resignations came after the new governor, Abigail Spanberger, asked at least five members of the board to step aside as she takes office on Saturday.
Ms. Spanberger has not said why she asked the board members to resign, but they were all involved last year when the Justice Department, in an extraordinary use of its power, bullied the university’s president into resigning. After Ms. Spanberger was elected in November, she asked the board to delay naming a replacement, but it went ahead and appointed a new president anyway.
Those who submitted resignations on Friday were Rachel Sheridan, the head of the board, known at the University of Virginia as the rector; Porter Wilkinson, the vice rector; and Paul Manning, a board member and major donor who gave $100 million to the university just a few years ago, according to the letters.
There are 17 seats on the Board of Visitors, which oversees the school, but before the resignations on Friday, there were only 12 members, all appointed by the outgoing governor, Glenn Youngkin, a Republican. At least two other members of the board were asked to resign but so far have resisted. It is unclear if Ms. Spanberger has asked the rest of the board members to resign.
The turmoil at the university over its board is the latest fallout to rock the school since the Trump administration began a pressure campaign against it last year. Last summer, the school’s president, Jim Ryan, resigned as the Trump administration threatened to cut the school’s funding and investigate it if Mr. Ryan remained in office.
Mr. Ryan has said the board members deserve blame for his ouster, for essentially trading his resignation for a deal to spare the school investigations and fines.
Conservative alumni and members of the Justice Department under President Trump had wanted Mr. Ryan out because they believed he was too liberal. It’s unclear what impact the resignations will have on the recently appointed president of the school, Scott C. Beardsley. Some Virginia Democrats and school faculty members have been calling on Ms. Spanberger to have Mr. Beardsley removed, saying that he was too hastily appointed by the board.
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The moves come after months of broader conflict over the direction of the nation’s elite higher education institutions. Mr. Trump and other Republicans have put enormous pressure on schools that they say have veered too far to the left. But many faculty members, university presidents and leaders on the left have argued that the tactics, including funding cuts to schools and efforts to oust university leadership, are threatening their independence and academic freedom.
On Friday, as news of Ms. Spanberger asking the members to resign made its way around Richmond and Charlottesville, some top Virginia Republicans were shocked by Ms. Spanberger’s decision. They believe that Mr. Manning has been integral to the school’s growth and that ousting board members will just continue the turmoil at the school.
The Jefferson Council, an organization of conservative alumni, issued a statement Friday calling Ms. Spanberger’s actions “disgraceful.” It added, “This action by Governor-elect Spanberger is not only totally unprecedented in the history of the Commonwealth, but also the most outrageous and politicized power grab ever attempted.”
In July, Mr. Manning had discussions with senior Justice Department officials in which they told him that Mr. Ryan had to go.
“Paul Manning reached out directly to the D.O.J. lawyers to make sure he was not missing anything, and he said that they told him that if I didn’t resign, they would ‘bleed UVA white,’” Mr. Ryan later wrote in a letter about his firing.
The University of Virginia and Ms. Spanberger could not be immediately reached for comment.
Wahoos4UVA, another alumni group that had been critical of a number of the board’s actions, including its decision to sign an agreement with the Trump administration, said in a statement, “The key to success of a university is to have a board on which those serving have the university’s best interest as their sole guiding concern, devoid of outside interference.”
Other schools in the state may also be poised for leadership changes. One of George Mason University’s board members, Charles D. Stimson, offered his resignation to Governor Youngkin on Friday, according to a letter that was obtained by The Times.
Mr. Stimson, who also works for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, had been the chair of George Mason’s board. The school had also experienced turmoil over the summer, after the Trump administration targeted its president, Gregory N. Washington, over his support of diversity programs and asked him to personally apologize.
George Mason said it would not have any comment about Mr. Stimson’s resignation. Mr. Stimson did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Michael S. Schmidt is an investigative reporter for The Times covering Washington. His work focuses on tracking and explaining high-profile federal investigations.
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