Nine Democrat Virginia senators are suing leaders at three state universities in an effort to block Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s recent appointments to their boards.
Youngkin submitted his request to Virginia’s General Assembly to confirm his appointment of eight people to serve on the boards of George Mason University, Virginia Military Institute, and University of Virginia May 30.
On June 9, the Virginia Senate Privileges and Elections Committee voted along party lines against confirming the appointees in an 8-4 vote. The same day, Democrat Sen. Scott Surovell sent a letter to the rectors at state universities claiming that “the General Assembly has refused to confirm” the appointees. Rectors are senior officials who lead their universities’ boards.
Attorney General Jason Miyares addressed Surovell’s statement in a June 11 letter to Virginia’s universities obtained by the Washington Post. Miyares wrote that, contrary to Surovell’s claims, the General Assembly “as a whole” had not taken action on Youngkin’s appointees.
Miyares went on to say that, in order for the governor’s appointees to be refused, they must be “refused by the General Assembly” and not by a committee.
In the letter, Miyares said it is “premature to conclude, as a matter of law, that the General Assembly has refused the pending confirmations.” Thus, Miyares advised the rectors that the eight appointees referenced in Surovell’s letter “remain members of the boards of visitors of the institutions to which they were appointed.”
According to the lawsuit, however, Democrats claim Youngkin has “chosen nullification” by “advising the rectors of UVA’s and GMU’s boards of visitors and the president of VMI’s board of visitors that the rejected members may still serve despite the General Assembly’s refusal to confirm their appointments.”
Sen. Louise Lucas, a Democrat and president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, is leading the group suing the board leaders at three universities: Charles Stimson, George Mason University; Thomas Gotwald, Virginia Military Institute; and Robert Hardie, the University of Virginia.
In the lawsuit, Lucas, along with other Democrats, argued the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee’s rejection of the appointees should result in the appointees’ termination from school boards.
Gotwald addressed these claims in a June 10 response letter to Surovell’s letter and said the three alumni nominees for VMI’s school board are “all equally qualified.”
In the letter, Gotwald said his board “takes seriously the Code of Virginia and our bylaws, and we have a strong desire to see VMI operate independent of improper political interference, so that we can continue to produce educated and honorable men and women, many of whom then serve our state and our country with distinction.”
A Fairfax County Court is expected to take up the case soon.
Charles Stimson declined to comment for this story.
