Written for Bacon’s Rebellion by James A. Bacon

Any day now, Governor Glenn Youngkin will announce his appointments to the boards of Virginia’s public colleges and universities. He has used his bully pulpit to urge governing boards to suppress hikes in tuition and fees, and he has called upon administrators to preserve free speech and promote intellectual diversity. In private conversations, he has indicated that he will appoint like-minded individuals to support those priorities.

Few members of the Youngkin cohort, I expect, have any idea of what they’ll be up against. The culture of militant leftism is so deeply entrenched in higher education that they will face furious opposition if they dare advocate substantive changes.

As a cautionary tale, Youngkin appointees might consider the experience of Paul Queally, the head of the University of Richmond Board of Trustees, who will step down from his position Thursday at the conclusion of his term. The situation is not identical — UR is a private university run by a self-perpetuating fraternity; new trustees are nominated and elected by existing trustees — while Youngkin over the course of his term will be able to replace the entire board of every public university (just as former Governor Ralph Northam did before him). But many of the political dynamics unique to higher-ed will be similar.

Much to his chagrin, I expect, Queally, a private-equity financier and donor to UR, got swept up in UR’s culture wars. As the Richmond Times-Dispatch recapitulates, he was at the center of the debate over the renaming of two campus buildings whose honorees had “ties to racism.” The RTD summarizes the litany of criticisms leveled against Queally:

Queally was opposed to changing the names of Ryland Hall and Freeman Hall despite protests from students and faculty. Robert Ryland owned slaves, and Douglas Southall Freeman supported segregation and eugenics. Altering the names would be equivalent to submitting to cancel culture, Queally said, according to professors.

Faculty and staff criticized his comments. Professors said he referred to students as Black, brown and “regular students,” and a former UR staffer, Jessica Washington, accused him of interrupting her and being condescending toward her. She called it “the single most horrific and traumatizing work experience I have ever had.”

The faculty censured Queally and ratified a vote of no confidence in him, saying the board had perhaps fallen out of step with the university community….

Queally also came under fire in 2014 for comments he made at a secret Wall Street fraternity induction ceremony in New York. According to New York Magazine, Queally made fun of Hillary Clinton and Barney Frank, a former member of Congress who is gay. The jokes were described as sexist and homophobic.

Anyone who stands up to campus militants can expect several things to happen. Faculty and staff will deconstruct their comments, applying ever-shifting definitions of what constitutes unacceptable discourse. Students will hold demonstrations, and media coverage will amplify the critics’ message. Employees will surface with impossible-to-refute accusations of problematic statements in he-said/she-said situations. Research gnomes will delve deep into the past and resurrect jokes or other remarks made years ago that might have been uncontroversial at the time but since have been declared to be outré. Administrators will waffle and provide no cover. Outspoken appointees will be left to hang out and dry.

It will take a special kind of person to stand up under this kind of pressure. Those seeking to serve on Boards of Visitors out of a sense of noblesse oblige, or for the status it confers, will wilt. No one volunteers to serve for the pleasure of confrontation and vilification. It’s easier just to go along to get along.

One big advantage that appointees to public higher-ed boards have over private boards, is that the governance structure ensures a full board turnover over four years. Youngkin appointees might be outnumbered in the first year, when they account for only a quarter of the board members, but their numbers will grow and, presumably, so, too, will their willingness to stand strong.

We will hear much in the years ahead of how the Youngkin cohort does not “reflect the values” of the universities they govern. Very true. Youngkin appointees will reflect the values of the citizens of Virginia whom the universities were established to serve, of the taxpayers who subsidize those institutions, and of parents who pay the ever-escalating tuition and fees — not the ideological militants who have forgotten that they serve at the pleasure of those who pay for their cosseted and privileged existence.