Three bills being considered in the General Assembly this year could change how the Virginia Military Institute is operated.
A proposal by Democrat Del. Dan Helmer that could decide whether VMI continues as a state-sponsored college was advanced Tuesday in an 11 to 6 vote by a House committee.
The legislation would create an 8-person task force made up of state officials — with and without military experience — as well as a member of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, among others. The panel would compare VMI’s curriculum with other public colleges in the commonwealth, examine admissions data and explore administrative decisions made following a 2021 state investigation into the school’s “equity gaps.”
Findings would be published by Nov. 30.
“I know there have been mistakes made in the past at VMI. And I know that I myself, as a legislator representing VMI, is willing to carry the anvil forward to make certain that we correct those problems,” said Republican Rep. Terry Austin, who voted against the measure. “Whatever this study produces, we'll do our very best to adhere … to whatever that report produces.”
Both online and during the committee meeting, graduates of the school voiced their displeasure with the proposal. Michael Denton, who said he started at the school in 1977, was among them.
“I welcome an honest in-depth, nuanced, intelligent, but mostly honest review of the opportunities that VMI gives to people who don't have a lot of privilege, who want to go there to prove themselves, to elevate their status in life,” Denton said.
He added that VMI offers a unique educational experience among public universities in the commonwealth.
VMI Superintendent Lt. Gen. David Furness wrote in a statement that the school’s monitoring the slate of legislation and plans to demonstrate its value to the commonwealth. “VMI is defined by an uncompromising honor system that is more fair, equitable, and transparent today than at any time of the Institute’s 186-year history,” he wrote.
Another House proposal — this one sponsored by Democrat Del. Michael Feggans — would give Virginia State University’s Board of Visitors oversight of VMI, removing the institute’s independent governance. And a final Hemler bill aims to offer “disciplinary immunity” to cadets over the use of drugs and alcohol if they report a sexual assault.
The proposed legislation follows the school’s Board of Visitors declining to renew Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins’ contract last spring. Furness later succeeded Wins, the school’s first Black superintendent.
