A group of University of Virginia professors is asking the school’s Board of Visitors to suspend any further actions to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programming until the legality of those programs is settled in federal or state court.
As VPM News has previously reported, there’s nothing currently in federal law that explicitly prohibits DEI offices and initiatives. Regardless, Virginia’s public universities have been swift to do away with these initiatives in the wake of anti-DEI executive orders from President Donald Trump.
The UVA chapter of the American Association of University Professors, an organization primarily dedicated to protecting academic freedom and shared governance in higher education, sent the request to the UVA board in a June 5 letter. Walt Heinecke, an associate professor of research statistics at UVA’s School of Education and Human Development, is on the group’s executive committee.
He told VPM News that the UVA board’s recent actions seeking to undo diversity, equity and inclusion work has been in response to “political, ideological directives” — not just at the federal level, but also from Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and his administration, including Attorney General Jason Miyares and Education Secretary Aimee Guidera.
“There’s nothing passed by Congress about stopping DEI programming at universities. There’s nothing passed in the Virginia Legislature restricting DEI programming at universities,” Heinecke told VPM News.
The UVA board approved a resolution in March calling for the elimination of all DEI programming — and the federal Department of Justice has been demanding an update.
It’s unclear what the total impact on DEI-related staff and faculty has been university-wide since the resolution, but The Chronicle of Higher Education reported in April that UVA’s board had voted to scrap numerical diversity and equity goals — the day after the Trump administration “warned university officials” that the school wasn’t dismantling its DEI programs quickly enough.
VPM News asked UVA about what changes had been made; the university said in a statement that there were “no updates to share on DEI at this point.”
Heinecke said he knows people in the education school whose jobs have been impacted by the anti-DEI resolution. He said both DEI coordinators there had their positions eliminated; one took a job elsewhere, while the other returned to teaching.
The UVA professors’ letter also points out the “limited authority” of both the governor and state education secretary in “directing or influencing” the actions of public university boards.
It points out that while Virginia’s governor can appoint board members, state law says that boards “shall at all times be under the control of the General Assembly.”
Heinecke is also on the executive committee of the Virginia Conference of the American Association of University Professors — a collection of AAUP chapters from around the commonwealth — which also recently sent a related letter to state lawmakers. That letter asks them to direct BOV members statewide to “rescind and halt implementation of ideologically driven decisions” — including, but not limited to, those related to DEI programming.
The statewide AAUP group is also asking that lawmakers deny confirmation to all BOV members appointed by Youngkin who are awaiting legislative approval — and to reject any future board nominations by the governor “until he demonstrates a sustained commitment to appointing individuals who uphold academic freedom, respect shared governance, and prioritize institutional integrity over politics.”
“We’re profoundly alarmed by the escalating politicization of public university governance within the commonwealth,” Heinecke told VPM News.
State Sen. Scott Surovell (D–Fairfax), Virginia's majority leader, has also been reminding university leaders that even though the governor is responsible for appointing board nominees, the General Assembly has final say over the appointments.
In a June 9 letter to all university rectors, he explained why a General Assembly committee refused to confirm eight individuals nominated by Youngkin to boards at UVA, George Mason University and the Virginia Military Institute.
Those whose appointments were rejected include ex–Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli at UVA, as well as Lt. Col. Jonathan Hartsock and Richmond attorney Stephen Reardon at VMI.
Hartsock and Reardon were nominated by Youngkin, but not yet confirmed by lawmakers, when they participated in a February vote not to renew the contract of retired Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins, VMI’s first Black superintendent. House Majority Leader Don Scott (D–Portsmouth) said in a statement at the time that the vote was “not based on performance or character — it is purely political.”
Surovell said the timing of Youngkin’s board nominations was “very strategic,” coming at the end of the 2025 General Assembly session and just days before the special meeting was called regarding Wins’ contract.
“It seemed like an effort that was staged to exclude the General Assembly from governance of the institution,” he said. “The governor has been acting like an emperor instead of a governor.”
However, Surovell has stopped short of directing all BOV members to take any specific actions — including halting DEI programming changes.
“They’re supposed to read the Constitution and the law and follow that and use their good judgment,” Surovell said.
