Scott Beardsley has said he’s honored and grateful to be appointed UVA’s next president, but opponents will not go quietly. About 14,000 alumni, students, staff and faculty have joined a group that supported former President Jim Ryan and called on the board to pause its search for his successor. Ann Brown is co-chair of Wahoos4UVA:
“What should happen next is that the governor-elect should have the opportunity to fill vacancies on the board and for the re-constituted board to meet and determine what’s best to do for the university," she says. "We are looking forward to having a full board that can assess whether a new search should happen, what should occur with regard to a contract that the existing board has entered into.”
There are five vacancies on the board, and while those now serving were unanimous in casting a vote for Beardsley, Brown says some of them may have a change of heart.
“That’s the tradition when a president is chosen at UVA – that no matter what individual board members might have actually thought, they assess where the majority is and declare that their vote was unanimous. There may well be members remaining on that board who might agree that it was hasty and inappropriate.”
Pressure may come not only from Abigail Spanberger but from state lawmakers according to University of Richmond professor Carl Tobias.
“There is also some very strong and vocal members of the General Assembly who are, I think, quite upset," he says.
They want to know what really happened, behind the scenes, leading up to Ryan’s resignation.
“It certainly had the feeling of targeting," Tobias explains. "I think from the prospective of many people, Jim Ryan was the quintessential university president, and he did many things, not the least of which was to raise $6 billion.”
Ann Brown was quick to add praise for the man selected by the current board.
“Dean Beardsley is an accomplished leader at the Darden School. This is really in no way about Dean Beardsley.”
What it’s about, she says, is the process by which he was chosen after the faculty senate, the student council, state leaders and Wahoos4UVA all urged the board not to choose a new president until a new governor was sworn in.
“We who are all part of the stakeholder group at the university have watched the university struggle through a truly damaging and traumatic time. Any president chosen in a process led by this board is going to have a very tough time being successful as president of UVA.”
Nevertheless, Beardsley will take office January first – 16 days before Abigail Spanberger is sworn in.
