Virginia Democrats Attack VMI

STARRS is mentioned in a Wall Street Journal editorial:

By The Editorial Board | Wall Street Journal

The progressive campaign to dominate academia endures, and the latest project is on display in Virginia. State lawmakers are pushing bills to wrest control of the Virginia Military Institute from its alumni and put its state funding at risk.

Virginia House bill 1377 creates a task force to decide if the military college “should continue to be a state-sponsored institution of higher education.” The task force will “determine whether educational services rendered by VMI are duplicated at other institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth” and “evaluate the relative cost to the Commonwealth and taxpayers.”

Don’t think this is about saving money. It’s about progressive hostility to VMI’s martial values. As part of its review, the new panel (made up of 11 delegates, two of whom served in the military) would “thoroughly audit” whether the school has made “substantial changes” to reduce “racist, sexist or misogynistic” actions in the student body and whether the school “possesses the capacity . . . to end celebration of the Confederacy.”

Possesses the capacity? The outcome seems preordained.

A companion bill, HB 1374, would change the makeup of the VMI Board of Visitors to reduce the number of alumni to eight from 12 on the 16 member Governor-appointed Board. The goal is to dilute the influence of alumni with affection for the school’s traditions.

An earlier draft sought to dissolve the board and put VMI under the oversight of Virginia State University. That would have all but erased VMI as an independent institution. The revisions are intended to achieve the same goal but soften the political blowback.

The moves are partly intended as payback for the school’s 2025 termination of former superintendent Cedric Wins. VMI hired the retired major general in 2020 after a state investigation into racism at the school and he served amid the Biden Administration’s DEI push. Mr. Wins expanded the school’s diversity initiatives and removed a statue of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson from campus, but his tenure was marked by declining enrollment.

When VMI declined to renew his contract in February 2025, the New York Times wrote that VMI’s “first black leader” had been “ousted.” With Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s election, Virginia Democrats see a chance to get even.

In a letter to President Trump, a group of retired senior military officers called Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services says changes imposed on VMI’s role in educating commissioned officers affects federal military readiness and “commissioning pipelines” established under Title 10 of the U.S. Code. The Virginia General Assembly’s “actions are a direct challenge to the authority of the Department of War and POTUS” and “to the military readiness of the United States itself,” the group writes.

During former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s tenure, Virginia Democrats engaged in unprecedented obstruction by blocking appointees to state university boards, so the spots could be filled by Ms. Spanberger. The attack on VMI is part of a progressive makeover.

Don’t expect the press to devote the same critical attention to this as it gives to the Trump Administration’s university demands.

First published on The Wall Street Journal

Some comments on article:

“The Left’s goal is to destroy the traditions that made this country great, and along the way destroy western civilization.”

“Like ISIS and the Taliban destroyed all the monuments and history of any preceding civilization when they took over some place, progressives wish to eliminate any evidence of our founding fathers and their vision of what kind of country they were creating.”

“A strong military is essential to preserve Western democracies along with Western values. So is the rule of law and enforcement of the law. Marxist progressives are anti Western. Thus, they hold positions to weaken the military, defund or abolish law enforcement and to reduce or abolish incarceration.”

“The Virginia state lawmaker’s goal may be the transformation of VMI’s cadets to social justice warriors who excel at fighting culture wars but not much else. If so, it is a shame that the rich heritage of the VMI student body will be watered down or erased. VMI is the only Senior Military College to have graduates become a 5 star general and 4 star generals in the Army, USMC, & USAF plus, cadets who served with honor in combat (Battle of New Market).”

“The lefts goal is to destroy. They have no ideas to make things better. Their goal is to rile up the college educated dolts who have become directionless. Gender studies is not a pathway to success but a gateway to incessant whining and VMI does not provide for incessant whining.”

“This a direct attack on an institution that has a strong code of honor and has provided many qualified and outstanding officers. I had occasion to visit VMI some years back while attending a ceremony honoring my uncle by naming a building after him after he served on the faculty for many years. Prior to that he served his country on Iwo Jima and during the Korean Conflict as a Marine officer. I found the keydets (the proper term) to be uniformly outstanding examples of what our youths to be in our country. As to purported termination or ouster of General Wins, please note his contract expired. Any employer has the right to pursue a different course but this was no “wrongful termination”. A statue of Thomas Jackson was fitting since he was a famous faculty member. Alumni also include George Marshall and George Washington Goethals.”

“Control of education is key to the leftist agenda and the explanation for all the cultural nonsense of the past 25 years.”

“This is all merely part of the progressive temper tantrum feet stomping historical erasures that are now pretty commonplace. It is still sad to see the State of VA continue to succumb and obliterate its own history. It’s not about racism, sexism and misogyny. It’s about erasure. The war happened. Richmond was the capital of the confederacy. VMI produced generals. Nothing can change it. Documenting it is not celebrating it. Not teaching about it accurately won’t make it not so. Tiresome.”

“Virginia is now run by a cabal of government aparachiks nesting in the northern counties, what the rest of Virginia calls “Occupied Virginia”. It’s not the militarism of VMI that threatens them, it’s the the traditional ideas that are taught there that are antithetical to their notion of “Government Knows Best”.”

“VMI produced the greatest American of the 20th Century: George C. Marshall. One can only imagine what he would think of this transparent attempt to destroy a great institution. One of the greatest military institutions in the country is to be judged by a panel in which only 2 of 11 members have any military experience?”

“I wish the Editorial Board had placed the issue in context for the very significant number of Americans who know little or nothing of VMI. The following are a few points of use in measuring its practical value: the most magnanimous act in history, the Marshall Plan, was the brainchild of a VMI graduate; VMI has more Rhodes Scholars per alumnus (11) than any other state college or university (two other great Virginia schools, William and Mary and Virginia Tech, despite being orders of magnitude larger than VMI, have 7 and 2 respectively); Money Magazine recently rated VMI’s degree among the top 40 most valuable of all US colleges, public and private; U.S. News says its the fourth best public liberal arts college in the country. In the greatest conflict the world has ever known, VMI (with 600 cadets in 1941) produced a quantity and quality of field grade and flag officer leadership surpassed only by West Point and Annapolis (each several times the size of VMI); this included George Marshall, America’s senior 5 star general, whom Churchill dubbed “the greatest Roman of them all” and Truman called “the architect of victory”. And then there is the number of VMI Medals of Honor, DSC’s, NC’s, AFC’s, and Silver Stars — again, numbers exceeded by only 2 of our 5 service academies. VMI remains just as relevant today, the current JCS Chairman is VMI ’90. Ike had it right when he said “VMI must be nurtured as long as there is an America”.”

“Of course they are against VMI, much like they are against the Men’s US Hockey Team. Anything that reeks of service, patriotism, high standards and excellence are anathema to the victim seeking radical left. Plus their trojan horse Spanberger, gained entry to the city of Richmond, cloaked as a traditional moderate. What a joke. Elections have consequences so now deal with the destruction which comes from this angry, sad and lunatic group which have completely hijacked the Democratic Party.”

“Democrats attempt to destroy anything that does not bow to their orthodoxy.”

“VMI can go private and operate in any manner they deem acceptable. Its only about $19mm from the state, so surely the esteemed alumnae could raise that small amount each year.”

“Served with several VMI graduates. Excellent officers who also produced fine families and contributed greatly to their communities. Makers, not the takers the leftists want to propagate.”

“First, this is being driven by the “progressive” duchies of Northern Virginia, which by no means represent the values and opinions of the rest of the Commonwealth. For me this gross imbalance in representation is another reason why the legacy state political boundaries need to be rethought. Second, what this “moderate” democratic governor is overseeing should serve as a fire bell in the night should “moderate” democrats regain the levers of power in Washington.”

“This attempt by Virginia Progressive Democrats is appalling but not at all surprising. And yet they keep getting elected because Republicans and Conservatives continue to not show up for critical state and local elections, allowing radicalized Democrat minorities to perpetrate the “political violence” addressed in this opinion piece! While I am in utter agreement with the WSJ editorial piece, until Republicans and Conservatives show up at the polls, Progressive Democrat “atrocities” will advance. Elections have consequences!”

“How about simply federalizing VMI and effectively making it a second West Point? I am sure there are pro and con arguments regarding this option, but perhaps the idea should at least be on the table?”

“Where are the rich conservatives? Time to set up an endowment. Make VMI self supporting, or close to it. Get it away from the control of the state government, which is becoming increasingly communist and anti-American.”

“I say let the United States acquire another Military Academy, the newly elected “woke” Virginia Democrat socialists are not deserving of VMI.”