At least four University of Virginia board members, including its leaders and a major donor, resigned at the request of incoming governor Abigail Spanberger as Democrats move into the state’s top leadership posts.
Rector Rachel Sheridan and the university’s vice rector, Porter Wilkinson, had been in the leadership posts since July. Also leaving are board members Paul Manning, who’s donated $100 million to U-Va., and Douglas Wetmore, according to letters obtained by The Washington Post and other people familiar with the matter.
In letters, Sheridan and Wilkinson touted their accomplishments on the board and said they hoped the newly appointed university president, Scott C. Beardsley, would be allowed to continue leading the school. Sheridan said her and other members’ efforts to do right by the university had become “paralyzed through purposeful political warfare.”
“It is a distressing fact of civic life in the United States that toxic national politics converts every disagreement, even among well-meaning people who share the same hopes and believe in many of the same values, into a pitched battle of competing camps,” she wrote to the outgoing governor, Glenn Youngkin (R).
The office of Spanberger, who will be sworn in Saturday, did not respond to a request for comment Friday. She previously said she intended to fill several already vacant seats on the U-Va. board once in office.
With the new resignations, Spanberger will be in position to fill at least nine of the board’s 17 voting seats which, if approved, mean the Democrat’s appointees would hold a majority early in her term. Typically, Virginia governors have appointed about a quarter of university board seats each year.
The flagship university in Charlottesville had been in turmoil much of the past year, which included the resignation of its president, James E. Ryan, amid pressure from the Trump administration. The U-Va. board chose Beardsley as new president last month, despite a request from Spanberger to wait.
The shake-up on the board came as Democrats signaled they would move quickly to unwind some changes made at Virginia colleges during the Youngkin administration.
Jay Jones (D), the incoming attorney general, dismissed the general counsels at George Mason University and the Virginia Military Institute. Democratic legislators also vowed to make more changes in how the state’s public colleges are governed.
Some Virginia universities have faced intense scrutiny from the Trump administration and other conservatives in the past year over diversity, equity and inclusion policies, the response to antisemitism and the provision of gender transition care, among other topics.
In February, conservatives on the governing board at VMI declined to renew the contract of retired Army Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins, the military institute’s first Black leader, after years of tension over his DEI policies. George Mason has been the focus of multiple federal investigations, with university President Gregory Washington — that school’s first Black leader — often being the direct target of conservatives’ ire.
At U-Va., the Justice Department opened several investigations soon after complaints that Ryan and other university leaders had not moved quickly enough to unwind diversity-related initiatives.
Democrats and some students, faculty and alumni at colleges have criticized what they have called an inappropriate intrusion on university operations by the federal government. Some university board members also faced calls to resign.
State Democratic lawmakers also pushed back, rejecting nearly two dozen of Youngkin’s picks to college boards in recent months. The rejections left only 12 of the U-Va. board’s 17 voting-member seats filled.
In addition to the board leaders, Spanberger also asked Manning, Wetmore and Stephen Long to resign, according to three people familiar with the matter. They, like some others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
“People were very surprised and saddened about Paul Manning,” said a person in the Youngkin administration. “He has been a selfless and tremendous benefactor of the University of Virginia. He doesn’t have a political bone in his body, and it’s just shocking that this would happen to him.”
In his resignation letter, Manning thanked Youngkin for appointing him to the board and said it was in the best interest of “all parties” for him to resign.
Ryan has been critical of Manning and the U-Va. board’s leadership. In a November letter to faculty, Ryan wrote that Manning had initially told him not to resign as the Justice Department escalated its pressure on the institution. However, Ryan wrote that Manning later told him that the governor and Sheridan needed him to resign. Ryan said Manning had also heard from the Justice Department that if Ryan did not resign, officials would “bleed UVA white.”
“Rachel, Porter, and Paul should also take some responsibility for the decision to allow this to happen,” he wrote of his resignation.
The Washington Post also previously reported that in private texts, board members, including some of those asked to resign, plotted with Youngkin during major debates at the university. Wetmore, for example, wrote in a March message to Sheridan that leaders “need to move decisively at UVA to ban DEI and all forms and regimes of racial classification.”
The board members and Youngkin’s office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Republicans in the Virginia Senate questioned the move on social media.
Spanberger’s request for the resignation was first reported by the New York Times.
The Jefferson Council, a conservative alumni group, said Spanberger’s request was “not only legally questionable, it clearly represents a dangerous highly politicized power grab.”
“This action by Governor-elect Spanberger is unprecedented in the history of the Commonwealth and represents an extraordinary abuse of executive power,” the group said in a statement.
More shifts at George Mason, VMI
Meanwhile, additional leadership shake-ups were in the works at two other Virginia colleges.
George Mason University counsel K. Anne Gambrill Gentry and associate counsel Eli Schlam, along with VMI general counsel Patrick O’Leary, were notified this week by Jones’s office that Friday would be their last full days as their universities’ top attorneys, according to a VMI spokesperson and an email from Gentry reviewed by The Washington Post.
Jones’s office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Gentry had been appointed by Republican Attorney General Jason S. Miyares, whose office also did not respond to a request for comment.
In Virginia, university counsels currently are named by and report to the office of the state’s attorney general. Their service, which includes providing legal guidance to the school in lawsuits and other operations, typically can span multiple administrations.
But as Miyares took office in 2022, he fired the top counsels at the University of Virginia and George Mason. At the time, a Miyares spokesperson said it was common for incoming attorneys general to appoint counsel that shares their “philosophy and legal approach.” U-Va. ’s counsel, Tim Heaphy, had also been on leave as he led a House investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
George Mason officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gentry, a GMU graduate, wrote in an email reviewed by The Post that Friday would be her and Schlam’s last full day as university counsel.
“It was a pleasure to represent my alma mater these past 19 years,” wrote Gentry, whose husband is a Youngkin donor., wrote.
VMI spokesperson Sherry Wallace confirmed that Friday was also the last full day for O’Leary, a VMI alumnus. He had served in the role since 2021 and was appointed by former Virginia attorney general Mark Herring (D).
“VMI’s general counsel received a letter late yesterday informing him that his services are no longer required by the state attorney general’s office and that today is his last day in the office,” Wallace wrote in an email.
Democratic state lawmakers have questioned how the governing boards at the institutions — dominated by Youngkin appointees — led the schools during those conflicts. State legislators are considering increasing board member terms to six years so no one governor’s appointees can ever dominate the board.
Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax) said in an interview that he believes allowing universities to hire their own counsels will ensure the institutions can serve their best interests.
He said he approves of the dismissal of George Mason’s university counsel but didn’t have information as to why VMI’s attorney was fired.
“They need to be able to rely on solid independent legal advice of counsels of their choosing so they can make decisions not only on the best political interests of the attorney general that happens to be advising them” Surovell said.
In another sign of change at George Mason, rector Charles “Cully” Stimson tendered his resignation Friday in a letter obtained by The Post. Youngkin appointed Stimson to serve on the board in 2023.
Stimson, who has been George Mason’s rector since July 2024, has overseen the board as it sought to dismantle DEI and pare back other policies it saw as too liberal. Stimson recently quit the Heritage Foundation over concerns about the conservative think tank’s response to concerns over antisemitism. But earlier this week, he announced said he was returning to the organization.
In his board resignation letter, Stimson called it an “extraordinary privilege and distinct honor” to be on the board. The note was addressed to Youngkin, Washington and vice rector Michael Meese. Stimson did not respond to a request for comment.
In an interview, Meese said he was “immensely grateful for working with Cully and thankful for his service on the board.”
Gregory S. Schneider contributed to this report.
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