This is a partisan fight. The protesters can say whatever they want, but at the end of the day, this is just partisan politics. It’s so obvious.
Inside Higher Ed reports:
Outcry at UVA Over Controversial Board MemberReckless. Insulting. Reprehensible. Beneath the bare minimum.That’s how the University of Virginia’s student government, student newspaper and a student group, the University Democrats, have described a new member of the university’s Board of Visitors, Bert Ellis, in separate but critical statements over the last several months. They see Ellis, CEO of a private equity firm and president of the conservative UVA alumni organization the Jefferson Council, as a threat to the progress the university has made in recent years. All three groups have called for Ellis’s resignation.“As the University continues to grapple with its history of slavery, racism, and eugenics, Mr. Ellis’ appointment is not only regressive, but also directly insulting to countless students and student organizations who have worked relentlessly to make Charlottesville more equitable,” the University Democrats wrote in a statement co-signed by the Democratic Party of Virginia.Both Ellis and Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, who appointed Ellis, have thus far resisted calls for his removal from the board. Ellis was one of the Republican governor’s first four appointees to the university’s governing board this summer. A majority of the 17-member board could be Youngkin appointees within the next two years. Board members serve four-year terms under appointments by the governor that are subject to confirmation by state lawmakers.“Our school is a place for the ‘development of the full potential of talented students from all walks of life,’ not a battleground for alumni to harass students and wage an ideological war,” the University of Virginia Student Council Executive Board wrote in a statement that made reference to an incident that involved Ellis confronting a student.
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