A Profound Disappointment for UVA

Dear Wahoos,

Earlier today, the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors announced its decision to name Darden School of Business Dean Scott Beardsley as the University’s tenth president. This announcement was made despite widespread calls from all corners of the UVA community to pause the search until the Board is lawfully constituted in mid-January.

We are deeply disappointed by this decision and the rushed, opaque process that led to it. This is not who we are, or at least who we should be as an institution.

Alumni, faculty, students, members of the General Assembly, and nine of UVA’s deans urged the Board to wait. Not because they opposed any of the candidates — to the degree the identities of top candidates were known — but rather, because they understood that process and legitimacy matter, and that leadership of a public university must begin with trust.

The Board disregarded those calls.

At multiple points during the search process, Rector Sheridan and Isaacson, Miller (the search firm engaged to help find the next president) have said the Board was in talks with exceptional external candidates from around the country. On November 21, the presidential search committee released a statement asserting that almost all of the strongest candidates “currently hold prominent leadership roles at major universities or institutions.” In its rush, however, to name a president before the Governor-elect is inaugurated and a lawfully constituted Board of Visitors can be convened, the Board and the governance crisis at UVA appear to have scared off the external candidates.

While we applaud Scott Beardsley's accomplishments at the Darden School, by accepting the position of UVA president under the current circumstances, he has regrettably eliminated the possibility of beginning a presidency with the trust and confidence of the UVA community that both a new president and the University deserve. As it stands, the UVA community can only guess whether Dean Beardsley was the best candidate out of a range of exceptional names — or the only candidate who would accept the job right now.  

This process and its result undermine UVA’s already strained institutional stability. We are left to wonder whether this Board’s hunger to put its stamp on the school in the short term will leave Dean Beardsley unable to address UVA’s governance crisis over the long term.

Because this BOV is unlawfully constituted, the very legitimacy of any contract it executes is under a cloud. In January, after it is lawfully constituted, the BOV must evaluate its options, taking into consideration the terms of the contract and whether it is even enforceable. They can decide how to proceed at that time, to include the possibility of beginning a search anew and conducting it in a proper, deliberate, and transparent manner.

If Dean Beardsley were to end up the choice out of the process the BOV undertakes, the UVA community would know he was the best candidate for the University at this moment.  

What Comes Next

When the Governor-elect takes office, she will have important decisions to make. As Governor-elect Spanberger repopulates the Board to ensure it is lawfully constituted and capable of carrying out its responsibilities to the University and the Commonwealth, we hope she will appoint qualified, highly capable Visitors regardless of their political views. And once the Board of Visitors is lawfully reconstituted, it can undertake the unfortunate but necessary work of nullifying a tainted presidential appointment, restoring integrity to the leadership of the University at this critical time, and guiding UVA forward out of this crisis.

With resolve,

Ann Brown (College ‘74, Law ‘77) and Chris Ford (Engineering ‘87)

Co-Chairs, Wahoos4UVA

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