As Study Bill Becomes Law, VMI Moves to Curb Dissent and Control the Message

Governor Abigail Spanberger signed House Bill 1377 into law that directs the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Board of Visitors (BOV) itself to examine VMI's responsiveness to the 2021 Barnes & Thornburg report, audit actions taken by VMI leadership since that report, analyze post-2021 admissions data, and recommend further changes to "distance itself from the Lost Cause narrative" and "foster an inclusive environment." The General Assembly rejected the Governor's changes to House Bill 1385 (HB1385), a second, broader BOV governance bill previously reported on by The Cadet that impacts BOVs for all Virginia colleges and universities. The action sends the Bill back to Spanberger, who must now decide to stand against the General Assembly, submit to their changes, or take no action and let the Bill become law automatically. Under Virginia's constitutional process, the Governor must act to sign or veto the legislation by May 23, 2026, or the Bill becomes law without her signature. Together, the two bills — and the events surrounding them — have produced one of the most consequential and contested chapters in recent VMI governance, with allegations of legislative coercion of board members, a rejected resolution from outside organizations seeking to participate in the review, and internal calls within the VMI administration, Board of Visitors, and VMI's alumni agencies to "control the message" among alumni and, if necessary, discipline them for opposing what they determine to be VMI's official position. What the Bills DoThe enrolled version of HB1377 created an external task force of legislators and gubernatorial appointees to examine VMI's academic rigor, curriculum, admissions practices, and institutional culture, including provisions citing the "romantic mythology of the Lost Cause" and stating that "nowhere was that mythology more celebrated in the past than at VMI." Its outcomes included recommendations for potential changes to VMI's operations, funding allocations, and legislation impacting VMI's future. In accepting the Governor's amendment, the General Assembly surrendered control of the study to Spanberger and her appointees, who now hold the majority on the BOV. Although the group that will execute the study changed, the final Bill preserves the substantive charges against VMI and its calls for change regarding the Lost Cause narrative, an inclusive environment, admissions diversity, and the review of legacy admissions. VMI previously indicated its willingness to make additional changes, particularly regarding memorials and its history. As the Superintendent told the Corps during an address, "I'm not so concerned [with] what names on buildings. I'm not concerned about statues, portraits, and whatnot. And if I had to move those all, get rid of that, move forward, I will to protect what's the core values of VMI." VMI and its alumni agencies lobbied heavily for the passage of HB1377 in all its forms, both Democrats and Republicans. The Cadet's Investigation Into Alleged PressureThe Cadet's reporting on alleged pressure on board members from House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, remains active. Public comments submitted to the Board for its April meeting directly raised these allegations. The Cadet Foundation, writing on behalf of the Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA) chapter for VMI and joined by Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services (STARRS), wrote: "There are public articles that appear to substantiate allegations that House Speaker Don Scott and/or others in the General Assembly demanded the removal of Board leaders under threat of legislative consequences and tied compliance with those demands to the continued tenure of VMI's Superintendent." The same letter noted that neither the Governor nor VMI has publicly clarified whether one former Board member resigned voluntarily or under pressure. The Governor has yet to explain what role, if any, she played in the resignation or the former Board President's departure from his presidency. As of publication, the Board has not addressed those questions on the record. Messages may have been conveyed that, if VMI took these actions, House leaders would allow a hostile Bill to "quietly die", reconsider VMI-requested budget submissions, and the Speaker of the House would drop his demand for the Superintendent to resign. What is known is that the Bill to change VMI's BOV "died in committee," and the Speaker, as well as his caucus, significantly reduced the rhetoric. The restoration of certain VMI funding lines in the House's VMI change in favor of VMI will be another indicator if they occur in the upcoming June General Assembly Session. Another indicator is that Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax County, the Bill's patron, told Cardinal News he supported the Governor's substitute: "We know the most heinous members of the board are no longer there, and I feel very comfortable that the board is committed to ensuring removal of remnants of the Lost Cause and to address the concerns that were presented in the 2021 study of VMI." In this scenario, with Board Member Gottwald unlikely to be re-appointed by Spanberger at the end of his current term in July, and Mr. Inman remaining on the BOV but just not as President, it's a reasonable conclusion that they "took one for the team", in barracks parlance, to do what they thought best for VMI. This is well within the high character and dedication to VMI by both men. HB1385, meanwhile, restructures governance across all Virginia public colleges. The General Assembly version extends board terms, alters confirmation procedures, requires shared governance policies, and establishes new academic freedom protections for faculty, all of which are major components of the inclusive ideology. The Governor's substitute would have softened several provisions — most notably, narrowing the academic-freedom language and removing a mechanism that allowed the General Assembly to compel an institution's legal counsel to review its work. The General Assembly rejected those changes. Board Rejects Outside Resolution Twice On March 27, a group of nonpartisan organizations submitted a request that the BOV's Executive Committee place on its agenda a resolution, supported by AFSA and STARRS, welcoming independent organizations to provide outside expertise as the Board carries out HB 1377. The request also urged the BOV to invite representatives from the Department of Justice, the Department of War, the Department of Education, and the Department of Justice to participate. It cited the fact that the main allegations in HB1377 of racism, sexism, and discrimination were solely within the federal jurisdiction and that if VMI truly supported a full and transparent investigation, any study must involve those agencies. With Gov. Spanberger's amendments giving full control to VMI to investigate itself, Board Vice President Ernie Edgar '87 declined the request on April 15: "In light of the Governor's recent action on the subject bill, most — if not all — of the concerns you expressed have been rendered moot. For this reason, we will not add your request to the Board's agenda." The group responded April 24 with a revised resolution, arguing the Governor's amendment made outside input from the responsible federal authorities and nonpartisan groups more important, not less, because the Board itself now bore the statutory review duty. The revised resolution did not ask the Board to surrender any authority — only to "acknowledge the independent study, invite its report and recommendations, and direct VMI leadership to consider reasonable requests for non-confidential information and engagement in good faith." As of publication, the group has yet to receive a further response from the Board. "Control the Message"A transcript of a recent Board meeting captures Superintendent Lt. Gen. (Ret.) David Furness expressed his frustration with alumni who objected to the legislation and did not fully support VMI's full endorsement of them. "I come from a service where when the commandant says jump, everybody goes how high?...And message discipline, you get out of that lane, you get shown the door." Furness told the BOV, "And that's not the case here. Controlling the message, how the message is delivered, is very difficult to do from this seat because everybody's got their own opinion." Furness used the VMI Class of '61 as an example, "…you can't tell, you know, for instance, a person from the class of 61 how to think about anything." "It became very difficult to control." Said Furness, adding, "I think we did an okay job." Lt. Col. (Ret.) James Joustra '76 followed Furness's comments, urging the VMI Alumni Agencies to expand its control over some dissenting voices to the point of disciplinary action. Referring to actions alumni and others took in opposition to the Bills, Joustra told the incoming Alumni Agencies, CEO Brig. Gen. Dallas Clark '99 in the same meeting: "The vast majority of alumni behave well, but there were some that actually made the challenges more difficult … if we're going to expect cadets to behave the way that we want them to behave and to become great leaders, then alumni need to set the example, and we need to hold them accountable when they don't." As previously reported in The Cadet, the alumni agencies banned alumnus Gene Rice '74 from their MyVMIAluni social media pages after a post in which he disagreed with the Bills and called on alumni to contact their federal and state representatives to oppose them. Most recently, an alumnus from the Class of '79 posted criticism of VMI's invitation to Gov. Spanberger to be the 2026 graduation and questioning why the Institute kept it secret for so long, with the warning, "Please review the social media policy before commenting. Posts that are uncivil or violate policy guidelines may be removed to maintain a respectful and professional environment." The alumnus responded, "Go ahead and bone me!" In another instance, the Lexington City Council rejected numerous public speakers' requests at its meeting to oppose the Bill, citing a call between City Officials and VMI officials who, according to the City Council President, told them to "stand down" on opposition. Former Del. Hon. William Janis '84 went further, urging Clark to organize alumni "by legislative districts for purposes of enlisting their support," and to develop "tiger teams of alumni in each legislative district." Referring to the contact list of all VMI alumni maintained by the Alumni Association. Janis continued, "…you all are gonna have all of that data [the contact list] sitting right there, and you can take that list, and you can hoard it and guard it like it's Midas's treasure, or you can put it to work on behalf of the school, not just from fundraising and development purposes, but for advocacy purposes on our behalf." In the past, a similar effort involving a group of alumni participating in an organized effort, at least one participant stated, was fully authorized by the VMI and Alumni Association leadership to use the list through former Gov. Northam's campaign to solicit alumni support and donations for him in the primary and general election for Governor. The proposed Tiger Team effort appears to be a larger strategy to mobilize alumni lobbying by the Alumni Agencies specifically for political and other positions approved and/or directed by VMI. Notably absent from the discussion was acknowledgment of the extensive outside advocacy coordinated by alumni and other friends of VMI. This grassroots effort, VMI and its Alumni Agencies appear frustrated they cannot control resulted in a March 5 letter to the President and Secretary of Defense from five Virginia members of Congress, a STARRS open letter to the President, an AFSA Board resolution, a Wall Street Journal Editorial Board opinion, formal Resolutions from seventeen counties across Virginia and over 1,000 emails to members of the General Assembly opposing HB1377 and citing federal interests under 10 U.S.C. § 2111a in VMI's status as a federally recognized Senior Military College. These seem to be the subject of BOV and administrative criticism, as well as new actions to "control the message". Praise for Spanberger and NorthamIn the same meeting, Furness and members of the Board offered notable praise for both Governor Spanberger and Former Governor Northam: "…We wouldn't be here today without the governor … She's in our corner from day one." Furness told the Board. These comments reaffirmed his previous statement to the Corps that "…I got no problem with the Governor. She's done everything we've asked her to do." Furness continually refers to Governor Spanberger as a "straight shooter" whom he trusts completely. Board member Don Hall, a Spanberger non-alumnus appointee, added that former Governor Ralph Northam — now seated on the BOV— "was more involved than anyone in this room knows other than me in helping through this entire process," adding that "without Ralph's involvement … this would not have transpired the way that it did." Lester Johnson '95, originally appointed to the Board by former Gov. Northam and recently appointed to the BOV by Spanberger, also praised Northam. Johnson said Northam "actually provided a lot of air cover for VMI" during his term. These are striking characterizations given that Northam directed the $1M 2020 investigation that produced the Barnes & Thornburg report central to HB1377, the extensive changes to VMI during the last Superintendent's administration, and the benchmark for the HB1377 study to determine if these changes have gone far enough. At the time, Northam's October 19, 2020, letter to then BOV President Mr. John Boland, co-signed by ten of his democratic colleagues, stated a predetermination of "the clear and appalling culture of ongoing structural racism at the Virginia Military Institute. Subsequent changes in VMI's leadership and policies, including the honor system followed under Northam's October 30, 2020, "Work Plan for Virginia Military Institute Equity Audit," the and his office would never release. Ultimately, the $1M study did not produce any empirically supported data to support its conclusions, according to an independent two-year peer review of the final report. Why It MattersFor cadets, alumni, and faculty, the convergence of these events raises questions that extend beyond any single bill. If the Board declines to permit outside subject-matter experts or to allow access to the same materials used in its work by outside groups — including federal stakeholders identified by Congress — despite its statutory charge to audit VMI's leadership and culture, critics may test the credibility of its eventual report to the Governor and General Assembly. If, as alleged, legislative pressure rather than the regular gubernatorial appointment process shaped the Board, its independence under HB 1377 becomes itself a question for the record, as does what agreements the BOV made or may make to give up VMI's lineage, memorials, processes, or standards in exchange for funding or other needs. As for HB1385, the action is with the Governor: she can stand firm against the General Assembly and veto the Bill, abandon her amendments and sign it, or allow it to become law through inaction. The Board's review of HB 1377 is just beginning. The Cadet will continue to report. Copies of the House Bills, video of the BOV session with all comments, transcripts, and other authoritative documentation are available in the online version of this article at: www.cadetnewspaper.com The Cadet is 100% self-supporting. Please help us continue our work as the voice of the Corps and alumni with a donation at www.thecadetfoundation.org