VMI Board Overhaul HB1374 Failed, but New Virginia Law Still Reshapes Institute Governance

The effort to directly restructure the Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors (BOV) failed this year. However, the broader higher-education legislation that passed and is now on its way to Governor Spanberger for signature will still bring significant governance changes to VMI. The failed measure, HB1374, would have altered the composition of the VMI Board of Visitors by reducing alumni influence and requiring a larger bloc of non-alumni appointees. The bill did not become law. VMI publicly supported the amended version of HB1374, with the Superintendent repeatedly stating this when he appeared before the House Education Committee in support of all versions of the bill. VMI's alumni agencies also publicly supported VMI's position and the measure. In a press release after HB1374 failed to pass through the committee, The Cadet Foundation credited the thousands of alumni and other supporters, outside advocacy organizations, and members of Congress who opposed it for the success. The Foundation stated: "HB1374 failed because the VMI Family and independent voices stepped forward when it mattered most." The Foundation further stated: "The broader VMI community — with decisive action from AFSA, STARRS, 17 Virginia Counties who formally opposed it, with Congressmen Ben Cline, Rob Wittman, Morgan Griffith, John McGuire, and Congresswoman Jen Kiggans, and a bi-partisan group of Virginia legislators who withstood great pressure — created the conditions that led to HB1374's defeat." The credit matters because HB1374 was not a symbolic proposal. It would have changed who governs VMI at the level of voting. As previously covered in The Cadet, the bill, endorsed and advocated for during the General Assembly session by VMI and its alumni Agencies, would have eliminated the alumni supermajority by capping alumni membership on the BOV and requiring more non-alumni Virginia residents and members with military experience. Had it passed, the balance of power on the Board would have shifted permanently away from alumni control. Instead, what passed was a different, broader package many members of the VMI Family were unaware of and that neither VMI nor its Alumni Agencies commented on: HB 1385, which incorporated HB 780, HB 939, and HB 1069. That final legislation did not directly remake the voting composition of VMI's Board, but it still rewrites important parts of Virginia's higher-education governance law and applies to VMI. Before those changes, members of governing boards at Virginia public institutions generally served four-year terms and could serve two consecutive terms. Faculty representation on boards was optional, but the statute already required student representation at baccalaureate institutions. Boards were also required to seek input from faculty senates at least twice each academic year and before the selection of a new chief executive officer. Under the new law, board terms are extended from 4 to 6 years. Members are generally limited to one six-year term rather than two consecutive four-year terms, though they may again become eligible after a shorter waiting period. The law also formalizes the appointment and confirmation process, allows appointees to attend and participate in meetings before final confirmation but not vote, and permits holdover service for up to six months after a term expires while a successor is confirmed. For VMI, the statute includes staggered transition language so the move to six-year terms does not turn over the Board all at once. For VMI, the transition schedule has implications beyond administrative timing. Under the statute, when terms expire on June 30, 2027, the governor will appoint four members, including three whose terms will run through June 30, 2032, and one whose term will run through June 30, 2030. When the terms expire on June 30, 2028, the governor will appoint four more members, including one whose term will run through June 30, 2034, and three whose terms will run through June 30, 2032. When the terms expire on June 30, 2029, the governor will appoint four additional members whose terms will run through June 30, 2034. After that transition, appointments move to regular six-year terms. In practice, the new terms do not apply retroactively to Governor Younkin's appointees. Gov. Abigail Spanberger will name 12 members to the VMI Board of Visitors during the 2027, 2028, and 2029 appointment cycle, with many of those terms extending well into the administration of the next governor. The practical effect is that VMI's board direction could remain shaped for years by appointments made under the current administration, even if political control of the governor's office changes. If the next governor is a Republican or elected on a different higher-education platform from Spanberger, that governor could inherit a board whose membership was set by their predecessor, with staggered terms that limit how quickly the Board's direction can be changed. That does not eliminate the authority of a future governor, but it does slow the pace at which a new administration could redirect board priorities, culture, or governance at VMI. This is an inference from the timing and term structure established in the statute. For cadets and alumni, that matters because the Board's composition can influence decisions about leadership, governance, institutional priorities, and the handling of future controversies. The staggered term structure means those decisions may continue to reflect appointments made by the current governor, even if Virginia voters later choose a governor with a different agenda for higher education or VMI specifically. Those changes are consequential. Longer board terms mean members can shape the Institute over a longer uninterrupted period, reducing turnover and extending the influence of each gubernatorial appointment. At a school where board decisions can affect not only governance but institutional mission, culture, and public controversy, the longer time horizon matters. This change revises Virginia's traditional Board appointments, in which each governor's appointees gradually gained a majority on the BOV over their term, preventing any one ideology from dominating and ensuring the Board reflected the will of the voters over time. The law also changes who is formally represented in board proceedings. For baccalaureate institutions, faculty representation is no longer discretionary. Boards must appoint at least one nonvoting faculty representative and at least one nonvoting staff representative. Those representatives do not gain voting power, but they do gain a defined statutory role in board deliberations. For VMI, that broadens participation in governance even without changing who controls the final vote. The BOV remains the governing body. However, under Virginia law, faculty, staff, and student perspectives now have a more formalized place in the process: "to be selected from a list of individuals nominated by such institution's student government." In the case of VMI, all students include "rats" as the statute does not address VMI's tradition that rats are not entitled to their own governance until they become a class. This change may not have a practical impact as the BOV will continue to choose the cadet representative, but it does require the inclusion of all students. The new statute also replaces the older faculty-consultation language with a broader shared-governance requirement. Governing boards must now adopt and maintain policies implementing shared governance among the Board, the institution's chief executive officer, and the faculty, staff, and students. Those policies must include consultation with the faculty senate, or its equivalent, on academic policy and before major academic changes, including the elimination of academic programs or changes to tenure policy. That shift could prove significant for VMI because it moves state law from occasional faculty input to a more structured internal governance model. At a military college, where hierarchy and command are central to institutional identity, any expansion of legally required consultative processes carries practical implications. According to publicly released VMI records, only 34 of VMI's 179 total staff and 5 of VMI's 152 faculty are alumni. According to the VMI public-facing pages, two of the 10 current members of the VMI Faculty Advisory Council (FAC), who would likely select the BOV representative, are alumni. HB1385 also adds a new viewpoint-neutrality section to Virginia law. Governing boards may not "Adopt any campus policies or make any decisions that would (i) have the primary effect of restricting or censoring expression based on viewpoint or (ii) otherwise restrict or censor expression for the purpose of ideological correction or conformity or advancing or promoting any partisan objective…" That provision may have particular significance at VMI, where debates over culture, expression, and institutional identity have remained politically charged. By placing academic freedom and viewpoint neutrality protections directly into the governing board statute, the General Assembly has created a clearer legal framework for future disputes. Under this provision, VMI's cancellation of the Civil War Round Table Club under its Inclusive Excellence program, restrictions on the Cadet-initiated Turning Point USA chapter until the administration decides whether to sanction it as a "Club," and other restrictions on freedom of speech and student Journalism are now specifically prohibited. The law also imposes tighter limits on executive committees, which often act on behalf of boards between full meetings. Executive committees may now exercise board powers only during a recess of the full Board, only when the executive committee has a quorum, and only if the full Board had a quorum at its meeting immediately before the recess. The statute also requires executive committees to maintain a code of ethics for board members, including provisions on political activity and conflicts of interest, and to report that code annually to state officials. VMI's previous Board voted against similar changes to the code of ethics as unnecessary and overly limiting under the prior Northam-appointed Board and its leadership. In addition, the change expands board-member training. SCHEV must coordinate governance training that includes ethics, academic freedom, student welfare, alumni programming, government relations, and other trustee responsibilities. The law also limits the outsourcing of that training to organizations without an established mission to prepare higher-education trustees and with at least 10 years' experience, which could open up competition for any such contracts. The final legislation also directs further study of legal counsel structures for public institutions, signaling the state's continued interest in how boards receive legal advice and manage governance disputes. Taken together, the enacted law is narrower than HB1374 in the area that drew the most opposition from many alumni: it does not directly alter the voting composition of the VMI Board of Visitors. But it still changes how the Board operates, how long its members serve, how other campus constituencies participate, and how disputes over academic policy, institutional speech, and governance are likely to be managed. For cadets, that could affect how student voices enter board discussions, how academic-policy debates unfold, and how institutional-expression disputes are addressed. For alumni, the significance is different but no less serious. The General Assembly's actions avoid the alumni-majority issue that drove opposition to HB1374. However, the legal framework surrounding VMI governance has continued to move in a more structured, regulated, and state-defined direction. The direct bid to remake VMI's governing Board failed. But the law that passed still reshapes how governance at the Institute will function in the years ahead. PLEASE ASK YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM ANY STATE to support VMI.. Follow this link for more information: https://thecadetfoundation.org/action Please consider supporting The Cadet through a donation at: www.thecdetfoundation.org. The cadet remains independent of both VMI and its Alumni Agencies. All funds go toward supporting our programs, governed by a Board of ONLY cadets and alumni.