On paper, freshly hired University of Virginia president Scott C. Beardsley appears to have all the bona fides of a qualified higher ed leader: multiple advanced degrees and more than a decade of experience leading a top business school. But that has not stymied outrage about his selection.

Last month the Virginia Board of Visitors voted to elevate him from business school dean to the top job, filling a vacancy left by former president James Ryan, who resigned under pressure as board leadership negotiated an agreement with the Department of Justice to close investigations into alleged civil rights infractions. Ryan has since accused the board of being complicit in his ouster.

The hobbled board, which is missing five members after Democratic lawmakers refused to confirm outgoing Republican governor Glenn Youngkin’s nominees, selected Beardsley unanimously, tapping a known quantity in a fraught moment for UVA. But in doing so, the board defied Democratic governor-elect Abigail Spanberger and other state lawmakers who called on the university to pause its presidential search until she could name new board members. The board also rejected pleas from faculty members and nine deans to pause the hiring process.

Now furious Democratic lawmakers have issued vague threats to take action in the coming legislative session, questioning whether the incomplete board could legally make the hire. At the same time, the board, which is stocked with GOP donors and political figures, has sparked outrage among conservatives, who view Beardsley as friendly to diversity, equity and inclusion policies; some have accused him of purging DEI-related content from his résumé.

Process Concerns

While partisan trustees in Texas and Florida have hired numerous former GOP lawmakers as campus leaders, UVA took a different route, despite the conservative composition of the board.

Beardsley has solid academic credentials; he holds degrees from Tufts University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oxford. He spent 26 years at the consulting giant McKinsey & Company before joining UVA in 2015 as dean of the Darden School of Business. In 2017, he authored a book about the rise of nonacademics as university leaders.

But his résumé isn’t the problem for most critics; the hiring process is. Beardsley is starting out with a trust deficit due to both how he got the job and the actions of the board, which has refused to engage directly with faculty to discuss Ryan’s resignation and UVA’s settlement with the DOJ.

“The presidential search, problematic from the start and resulting in this appointment, represents the Board’s continued failure to engage in authentic shared governance with the faculty,” the UVA chapter of the American Association of University Professors wrote in a Tuesday statement. “To accept the result of this tainted process and its appointee as legitimate would be to turn a blind eye to the misfeasance that has reigned at the university since March.”

Ann Brown, co-chair of Wahoos 4 UVA, a nonpartisan group of alumni, students, parents and other constituents, told Inside Higher Ed that she had concerns about both the process and the legality of the search.

“It was an improper search because it was initiated by a board that is not in full compliance with Virginia law,” said Brown, a UVA law graduate, citing the five vacancies.

UVA, however, has pushed back on the notion that its board actions might be illegitimate.

In an email to Inside Higher Ed, university spokesperson Brian Coy pointed to a prior legal ruling from the Virginia Court of Appeals, which found that boards could lawfully act without a full complement of members. He also noted that the presidential hire is just one of many board actions taken in recent months without a full slate of members, including approving contracts, “the appointment and promotion of faculty; the establishment of distinguished professorships; the approval of new degree programs and discontinuation of other degree programs; the approval of planning and design of future University buildings; the election of an Interim President; the authorization of mutual aid for the provision of emergency services with surrounding jurisdictions; and the approval of the University’s six-year plan, as required by Virginia law.”

Now that Beardsley is hired, critics say he will have to engage constituents and work to gain their trust.

“The faculty, staff and student voices have been loud this year because they have been ignored,” Faculty Senate chair Jeri Seidman told Inside Higher Ed. “In the past, we’ve been able to have conversations, as opposed to resolutions, protests and rallies. Hopefully, we can get back to the space where we have conversations, but I think that is going to require President Beardsley to show up for a lot of awkward listening sessions before there’s any trust that can be used to build relationships.”

Numerous conservatives have blasted Beardsley for a different reason: DEI. One conservative critic compiled a supercut of Beardsley’s various comments on DEI, including remarks about DEI initiatives and personnel at UVA that he oversaw as business dean. Beardsley’s curriculum vitae on the business school website uses the word “diversity” nine times, while the term is absent from the CV posted to the UVA Office of the President site.

However, UVA’s conservative constituents are not unified in their concerns about Beardsley. The Jefferson Council, an influential conservative alumni group, signaled support for the hire after it was announced, noting his “long-standing service” as dean of the business school.

“Given President Beardsley’s deep experience within UVA, we trust his understanding of this institution’s unique character will guide a renewed emphasis on creating a real level playing field for the free and civil exchange of ideas,” the Jefferson Council wrote in a Dec. 19 statement.

Youngkin also applauded the hire in a post on X congratulating Beardsley.

Politics Loom Large

State Democrats have hinted vaguely that UVA’s new presidential hire may not stick.

Aaron Rouse, a Democratic state senator, wrote, “We’ll see about that” in response to a post on X announcing Beardsley’s hire. Rouse argued that the “Board of Visitors is not fully constituted” and the Senate has oversight over the board, which it plans to wield this spring.

Senate president pro tempore L. Louise Lucas offered a more forceful reaction to the hire.

“Scott Beardsley, you will quickly learn about the separation of powers between branches and what happens when one branch gives a middle finger to another that funds, regulates and allows their existence. Buckle up,” Lucas wrote in a social media post following the selection.

Spanberger, despite her calls to stop the search, has remained silent about the hire so far.

Larry Ladd, a subject-matter specialist at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, sees problems with both the search and the political circumstances around it.

Ladd said that while new presidents are typically met with celebration, a sense of hope and a grace period, Beardsley is at a disadvantage “because the process was seen as flawed by key stakeholders,” which “hurts the perception of legitimacy.” And that’s despite the fact that “there’s no question about the qualifications or suitability of the candidate,” he added.

Ladd also takes a dim view of partisan efforts to influence the hire, arguing that politicians, regardless of which side of the aisle they sit on, shouldn’t try to intervene in personnel decisions—including hiring a new president, which he said is strictly the purview of the board.

But as governor, Youngkin stocked the state’s Boards of Visitors with multiple conservative donors and former politicians, stamping politics directly onto university oversight. Now, with Spanberger promising to move quickly to appoint new members to multiple vacancies, including at UVA, it remains to be seen whether Virginia’s boards will be depoliticized or simply shift direction.

(This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Jeri Seidman’s name.)