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No Confidence in the UVA Board of Visitors

The University of Virginia Works Because We Do

The United Campus Workers of Virginia (UCWVA), Communications Workers of America Local 2265, is a wall-to-wall union of public higher education workers. The University of Virginia (UVA) Chapter (UCWVA–UVA) believes that higher education should be accessible to all, that UVA should serve the public good, and that the workers of this University deserve a living wage, health and childcare, and fair workers’ protections. 

We know this is only possible when we — the people who do the work day in and day out — have a say. Having a seat at the table means real decision-making power regarding our own working conditions. True progress will never be handed down from those who benefit most from the status quo, nor will they be derived from the false pretense that all “stakeholders” are equally affected by decisions made from on high. The truth is plain — UVA workers, students, and community members bear the heavy weight of every choice made by the Board of Visitors and their political handlers.

The UCWVA–UVA believes that decision-making power must rest with those most affected and most responsible for making the University work. Anything else is a performance of inclusion without the substance of justice. We do not legitimize decision-making bodies or processes that pretend to share authority while consolidating it among those with the least skin in the game or who are most insulated from the consequences.

No Confidence in the University of Virginia Board of Visitors

The UCWVA-UVA writes to express No Confidence in the UVA Board of Visitors, whose actions have undermined trust, shared governance, and the public mission of this University. We object to the Board’s brazen attempts to consolidate and concentrate their power and steal this University from whom it belongs — the people of Virginia. The Board has excluded UVA workers, students, and members of impacted Charlottesville communities from key decisions affecting the fate of this University — decision-making in which they rightfully belong according to UVA traditions of shared governance and student self governance and to which they bring deep, unique expertise and have material consequences in the stakes of any outcome. The Board has usurped power through deception, intimidation, and exclusion — their actions threaten to existentially, reputationally, and financially damage the University, punish and hurt UVA workers, students, and community members, and devalue UVA as a public good.

Deception

  • The Board has lied about the settlement negotiations with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that are poised to radically remake and resegregate the University and suppress free speech and academic freedom.
  • The Board manufactured a fake crisis as a cover to oust former President Ryan and continues to conceal the circumstances around Ryan’s resignation and the appointment of the interim president.

Intimidation

  • The Board initiated a federal compliance review without explanation or cause that has intimidated faculty through compulsory interviews with lawyers and gag orders.
  • The Board failed to protect UVA workers, including members of the UCWVA–UVA, against harassment, intimidation, and surveillance by politically motivated outside groups such as the Jefferson Council, who are working to undermine academic freedom, community trust, and shared governance.

Exclusion

  • The Board appointed the interim president through a closed, exclusionary, and illegitimate process that they masqueraded as inclusion.  
  • The Board violated UVA norms of shared governance and ignored calls by numerous UVA constituencies — including workers — for meaningful representation, instead standing a Presidential search committee dominated by current and former Board members and administrators.

The UCWVA–UVA says NO!

The UCWVA–UVA will not sit by as the Board ushers in an authoritarian takeover of the University that will create a culture of fear and obedience under leadership that surveils and censors speech, stifles academic freedom, and punishes dissent. The Board has already wreaked havoc at UVA, intentionally destabilizing the University, ending diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives without legal cause and without consulting UVA workers and students, and denying lifesaving healthcare to trans youth across the UVA Health System. These actions harm UVA workers and are a slap in the face to long-standing UVA traditions of shared governance and student self governance. At a time when UVA needs democratic and community-rooted leadership, the Board has chosen deception, intimidation, and control.

In this context, UCWVA–UVA moves to do the following:

  1. We call for full transparency from the Board concerning settlement negotiations with the DOJ, the federal compliance review, and the circumstances and terms of President Ryan’s resignation.
  2. We declare the process of selecting the interim president to be illegitimate. The Board has refused to provide information on how online feedback was considered, or even if it was, or who was in attendance in those “listening sessions” and why those individuals were invited. The process was nothing more than gatekeeping, legitimacy laundering, and message management, with UVA workers, students, and Charlottesville community members used as props in a predetermined outcome. 
  3. We call for the establishment of a transparent process — developed by UVA workers, students, and Charlottesville community members — for evaluating and, if necessary, removing the interim president in the case that he acts against UVA’s public mission, principles of shared governance and student self governance, and/or in violation of community trust. 
  4. We call for the immediate release of the timeline and explanation of any compression of that timeline for selecting the next President, the public release of the name of the external firm hired by the Board for this search process, and details on how the work of the committee will be divided among 28 people.
  5. We call for the reconfiguration of the Presidential search committee such that at least 75% of committee members are UVA workers, students, and residents of Charlottesville, who can speak from lived experience to the historical and contemporary harms done by the University to the Charlottesville community. Of these 75% of seats:
    • a majority of committee members must be held by elected representatives and not appointed by the Board or administration; 
    • elected representatives must be vested with binding decision-making authority, including the power to veto finalists who fail to meet criteria agreed upon in advance by the full diversity of UVA constituencies; and
    • non-Board or administrative committee members must receive stipends or course releases to compensate for the significant labor this process requires.

Until these demands have been met, we join the Faculty Senate, General Faculty Council, Student Council, Executive Committee for AAUP-UVA Chapter, and retired faculty in formally expressing No Confidence in the Board of Visitors. 

We request a reply to this statement by August 28, 2025. We have already communicated to the press and public our statement expressing our position that the process to appoint the interim president was illegitimate. The UCWVA–UVA Faculty Committee will be advancing a campaign to advocate for the reconfiguration of the Presidential search committee. 

In Solidarity,

UCWVA–UVA