See below for video and some highlights from today’s press conference, at which, “in response to growing political interference from President Trump and Republicans in Virginia’s public colleges and universities, House and Senate Democratic [were] joined by Governor L. Douglas Wilder for a press conference to stand united in defense of Virginia’s world-class education system and universities.” Participants, in addition to Gov. Wilder, were: Senator L. Louise Lucas (Senate President Pro Tempore); Delegate Charniele Herring (House Democratic Leader); Delegate Kathy Tran (House Democratic Caucus Chair); Senator Scott Surovell (Senate Majority Leader); Senator Mamie E. Locke (Senate Democratic Caucus Chair); Speaker Don Scott (Virginia House of Delegates).
Sen. Louise Lucas: “Good morning and thank you all for being here today. I am so proud to stand with my colleagues from the Virginia House and Senate and with our 66th Governor L. Douglas Wilder as we defend Virginia’s top ranked public colleges and universities from the political attacks coming from the Trump and Republican administration. That’s right. Virginia’s education system is ranked number one in the nation. According to CNBC, our number one competitive strength is our educational system – and we earned that ranking. We’ve invested big, over $2 billion last year and now another $787 million this year, thanks to the leadership of our Democratic majority. But what does the Trump and Virginia Republicans do when they see successful systems? They try to tear it down. But make that make sense. It’s disturbing. Republicans appointed boards of visitors coordinating campaigns to oust strong effective university leaders. Trump’s Department of Education and Department of Justice pressuring presidents to resign. Threats to withhold funding and outright executive overreach. What happened to the so-called party of small government? Thomas Jefferson and George Mason must be rolling over in their graves. Let’s not forget what this is really all about. It’s about the people. It’s about our students. It’s about the next generation. In Virginia, we put our money where our values are, investing in students and preparing young people for a brighter future. Our worldclass schools don’t just serve Virginians. They attract students from across the country. And Republicans want to destroy all of it just to prove or shove Project 2025 down our throats. We didn’t vote for Trump. We didn’t vote for Project 2025. And we’re not going to let them hijack our public institutions. Now, let’s be clear. This is a coordinated political campaign. They started with General Wins at VMI. Then they came for President Ryan at UVA. And now they’ve set their sights on President Washington at George Mason. Well, let me tell you something. You don’t stop a bully by backing down. You stop a bully by punching back. And luckily for us, I always carry my box of gloves in the trunk.”
Del. Charniele Herring: “I am a proud alumni of George Mason University. I’ve said many times that without the education of George Mason University, I would not be standing here as the first Black person and first woman to ever serve as a majority leader in the House in Virginia’s history. George Mason has a proud history of giving non-traditional students an opportunity to achieve…I know firsthand what a George Mason University education can do. I was homeless in high school. My education and future was impacted by that economic turn, despite coming from a hardworking family, I thought college would be impossible to reach. But through its Step program, George Mason gave me a shot, the resources and the support to demonstrate that college level work was well within my reach and it changed my life. I earned my degree in economics, went on to law school, and with the foundation of George Mason, they provided me with the opportunity to continue to work at a prestigious law firm dealing with infrastructure and communications and family law and so much more. I volunteered for my community. And it is with the foundation of George Mason University education that I ran for office to make the voices of my community heard and to uplift those who have too long and too often been silenced. My story is not the only one that comes from this university. Now, President Trump and his Republican allies want to politicize the opportunity that was given to me, to so many first-generation students, and to diverse perspectives which enrich our college institutions and our college education. It is…all while punishing successful leaders like President Washington for doing his job to uplift every student, challenge them and give them a shot at a better future no matter their zip code, their background, how much money their family has, or their age. These Republican attacks aren’t just about a president. There are about the thousands of George Mason University students that are walking across campus right now who are watching us right now and wondering why their future is being used as a disingenuous political game. These attacks are attacks on their future and the future of Virginia’s children. Their lives are not a game. Unlike Virginia Republicans, I will not stay silent while extremists with an agenda try to muffle the voices of educators in an effort to dismantle the institutions that helped shape me. In Virginia, we believe in facts. We believe in freedom. And we believe in the future of our students. This generation of students deserves better than to be caught in the crosshairs of a partisan lawfare. They deserve investment, not interference. They deserve opportunity, not obstruction. And they deserve degrees, not delusions. And as someone who once walked the campus with a simple dream of a better future, and not much more. I owe it to the students, to my family, and to the constituents to stand up and fight back. George Mason gave me my start, and it is my heart. I will not let Trump, Virginia Republicans, or anyone erase the most precious of starting lines that our Commonwealth has to offer.”
Sen. Scott Surovell: “First I just want to talk to you about what public education does. I’m a 13th-generation Virginian. First 12 generations of my kin didn’t go to college because they didn’t have a state-supported college, higher education system or a public education system. My grandfather wasn’t able to make it past 8th grade because Franklin County didn’t have a high school. Neither did my grandmother. My mother was the first one in the family to go to college. She went to Longwood University and studied to be a teacher because public education was finally available at that time. I went to a public elementary school. I went to a public intermediate school. I went to a public high school. Taxpayers invested in my education at JMU and taxpayers invested in my education as an attorney at UVA law. I would not be here today but for the money that taxpayers have invested in my education, my ability to do what I did today. By the way, they also made it possible for me to serve as a governor’s fellow to Governor Wilder in 1993. Just so you understand the full breadth of our system. Virginia’s colleges and universities enroll 524,000 students across public and private institutions in our state. Our community college system serves approximately 144,000 students alone, which is four times the enrollment of either George Mason or Virginia Tech. Northern Virginia Community College has 53,000 students by itself. Our 15 four-year institutions enrolled 211,000 full-time students last year. In terms of economic impact, our public higher education system – higher, not secondary, higher education system – has a total economic footprint of 52.4 billion dollars in our Commonwealth. Every dollar spent on public higher education results in additional $1.89 of state revenue and $25.9 of additional state gross domestic product. UVA alone contributes $7.2 billion in GDP and $576 million in annual state tax revenues. International students which the Trump administration is threatening contributed $87 million to Virginia’s higher education learning institutions in the 2023 and 2024 academic period. and Virginia’s institutions collectively received about three billion dollars in tuition and fee revenue and more than two billion in state general funds in 2023. Okay, this is a massive system that is currently under attack by the Trump administration that our Republican colleagues in Virginia are refusing to do anything about. What’s happening today in our state is the Republican Party is bowing down to their dear leader, President Trump, and refusing to do anything. I want to make clear that in Virginia, our board of visitors run our universities. The General Assembly controls our universities, as it said, is in the Virginia code, not President Trump and not the United States Department of Justice. We’ve now heard from outraged alumni, teachers, students of our number system in America. You’ve heard it. CNBC, when they looked at our business rankings, said that one of the main reasons the pillars underscoring the foundation of why we get these rankings is because of our education system. We have the number one education system in America. Just yesterday, you heard the business community in Northern Virginia speak out. The Northern Virginia Technology Council, the Northern Virginia Chamber, the Loudoun Chamber, the Prince William Chamber all signed a letter and said, ‘Leave George Mason alone. It’s a critical pillar of our economy, not just in Northern Virginia, but the entire state.’ George Mason, I want to just note aside from the fact that UVA I believe is not number four but actually the number one institution in America, public institution in America, George Mason is ranked number one by US News as being number one for best value for internships and for upward mobility. So I just would ask if you get a chance to ask a Republican, if you see one on the street, if you can find anybody that will speak on the record you about this, I would ask them what exactly is the purpose attacking the best public higher education institution in the country that we have here, the crown jewel in our state? What’s the point of attacking it? And what is the point of attacking the number one school in upward social mobility in the country the best value in the country? What exactly is the point? What’s the motive? You fill in the blank. But ask that question. And I can tell you that if the Republicans aren’t going to stand up to to defend our system, we will. And that’s why we’re here today. And that’s also why we’re in court tomorrow.”
Sen. Mamie Locke: “I’m honored to be here with Governor Wilder and my Senate and House leaders and colleagues, but I’m saddened to be here to address the issue that has brought us here today. I have spent well over half my professional life in higher education, both in the classroom and as an administrator. As a member of the Senate, I serve on the education and health committee and as chair of higher education. In these roles, I have come to know leaders, administrators, faculty, and students in Virginia’s institutions of higher education across this commonwealth. Consequently, I’ve witnessed first hand the remarkable progress George Mason University has made under President Washington’s leadership. The investigation launched by the Trump administration’s Department of Justice not only is unwarranted, it is deeply disturbing and damaging. GMU’s students and faculty have worked tirelessly to create a campus that embraces innovation, academic excellence, and belonging. GMU is a community where first-generation college students, immigrants, students of color, and people from every background can thrive. To see that community come under attack by Donald Trump because they dare to live out the mission of being altogether different is disheartening. This baseless politically motivated probe by the DOJ has the complicit support of Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Earle Sears, and Jason Miyares. By aligning themselves with Trump’s agenda and refusing to stand up for our institutions, they are signaling that political ideology matters more than academic excellence, more than our students, more than our faculty, and more than the university community. This investigation is a distraction to our campuses, demoralizing to our faculty, and is sending a chilling message to students who simply want to learn in a supportive environment. Virginia is the number one ranked public higher education system in this country. And yet, we’re being targeted for doing exactly what good schools should do. Educate, include, and lead. We stand with President Washington and the George Mason University community and we will not allow political fear mongering to derail the future of our students or this marvelous institution.”
Gov. Doug Wilder: “They said so many nice things. Everything I say will be bad. I told my good friend Mamie Lock that I was glad to see to what’s going on. Donald Trump doesn’t run Virginia. He’s not in office in Virginia. He doesn’t appoint people in Virginia. I’m reminded of reading relative to Roman history and how the Senate, Cicero, he spoke in the Senate, he would end his speeches by saying and Carhtage must be destroyed – a constant reminder this is what needs to take place. That’s why we I want to thank the members of the assembly and citizens and those across to the town. I spent the better part of my trying to expand opportunity in the commonwealth. I know the power of public education because I’ve lived it. I also know the pain of being locked out. I was eight blocks away from my home was eight blocks away from where Henry made his famous speech, St. John Church. Give me liberty or give me death. And I would ask my father, he said that we’re coming here to this church to look at how great a man he was, what did he do? My father said he went back up to Ashburn and maintained his plantation of slaves. Doesn’t that tell it all? You’re not elected to be in office. You’re elected to represent the people. Speak for the people. They can’t do anything to you. If they don’t reelect you, so what? You’ve said what you needed to say. I know the power of publication. I know the pain of being locked out. I attended Virginia University, Virginia Union. I had no option. I didn’t have the money to go to Virginia state. That was the quote state school. My father made clear that there would be one way transportation. Give you a bus ticket, street car ticket to go up. You want to use it to go home. Now, I’m not going to be able to give you a bus ticket, too. What was the tuition at Virginia Union? $90 a year. $150 a year. And they give you a scholarship if you maintained a B average? That was the value of education. There were people who knew that Virginia Union was broke and poor and got nothing from the state. Nothing….And so I went to Howard University School of Law. Why? I couldn’t go to a school of law. Why? Because I looked like this. I looked like this. Don’t forget that education is the great equalizer. It’s the key that unlocks the door. But only if it’s protected. Only if it’s defended. I said it before, I say it again. It unlocks the door. But what we’re seeing today is not about policy differences. It’s about a pattern, a coordinated effort to silence, punish, and erase. At Virginia Military Institute, Youngkin sent one of his disciples up there to declare DEI is dead. And after the first Black superintendent, Wins, who was first Black president superintendent got rid of even though the Northam administration released a report shortly before that saying that racism and sexism still existed. at VMI. I know about the history of VMI. I was informed by my clerk when I was in the state senate. Guess what? As a state senator, you can send a youngster to VMI for a four-year scholarship. It’s in the code. What was a decent person, a good person, find me somebody? And I did. This young man was one of came to be one of the few ever to go to VMI as a Black person. I also know what it’s like in terms of racism and sexism to women. I also appointed the first Black person to serve on the board of VMI. First woman, I’m sorry. Did she catch it?…And when I was governor, my attorney general when I was making a very famous speech was her. She said, “Let VMI be VMI. Don’t worry about women.” My own attorney general. I had to go in fact my secretary of education. He knows exactly what I had to get outside counsel to represent me back then. I’m not talking 100 years ago. So don’t think it won’t creep back creep up and eat you if you let it do it. George Mason University, the largest public institution in Virginia…publicly and baselessly accused of promoting anti-Semitism. One of my very dear friends…he happens to be Jewish…Where is the evidence? Where are the facts for this man to be kicked and drawn and fired? That’s what’s where it’s trying to get. Jim Ryan was targeted by investigations and resigned. I know at Virginia Commonwealth under the leadership of Mike R more than $100 million I’m not talking about of taxpayers dollars was wasted on a failed real estate project, one that never materialized benefit no money remains unexplained. I brought it to the governor’s attention and he told this is a wake up call. But he ain’t woke yet. And I mean woke in the truest sense of the word. What did he do about it? What has he done about it? Anyone in here in the media. Tell me where the money was and why it was absolutely wasted. I know people who raise big money at these universal stewardship and then turn a blind eye mismanagement at the top at other schools. And I must not forget the promise of proud board of education that decision wasn’t just about classroom seating. It was about constitutional equality. Constitutional equality that government would not segregate, silence or discriminate under any kind. What we are seeing now is a coordinated roll back, a strategic retreat from the promise that generations fought to secure diversity, equity, and inclusion. And I pressed their obligations under our constitution, met with group of young,,,,said “You look the same. I say I got a few years left. But then she went on to say that we believe in I tell the story sometimes about this young boy. I was in church minister everyone getting out and he wanted me to stand with him and shake hand at the I did and his son was running around. He said, “Son, be quiet.” And so the son came up at me and said, “I understand that. I was told who you were, but haven’t you been dead? That’s the truth….That’s why today I’m calling on Governor Youngkin and the Virginia General Assembly to act with urgency to withhold further funding from any public college or university including VCU that demonstrates gross financial mismanagement until a full independent forensic audit is completed. and made public. Over $500 million. Somebody know why don’t you want to know intimidation of the university leaders and reaffirm the independence of Virginia’s public institutions. We don’t need more questions. We need accountability. We need transparency. And I say this…Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not just they are tools of fairness. They’re grounded in the constitution…what threatens us is unchecked power. I remind you now, Donald Trump is not living in Virginia. He’s not the president…not the governor of Virginia. He doesn’t do anything in Virginia but sometimes ask for money and cooperation. So let’s get the tire straight. Let’s make certain who we want to do what we want and say what it is we want and what really address threats us power and what we need is the voices of those elected by the people to represent the people by their action by their voices. Not just at election time. And I say this to the people when they say they’re going to run for office. I want your vote. I want your support. I used to ask a question. Some of you didn’t see me know what that question is. What have you done? What are you trying to do? What is it that you want to do in the goddamn way? When are you going to say after you get elected to speak at an event like this? I want you people here who would hear today particularly those in representative legislation. It doesn’t have to be a ceremony for you to speak. Speak as often as you can when a money bill comes up going to somewhere else for something else that you had no interest in other than to say that why couldn’t I get for this bring it to the attention of those who dispersion demand what’s right criticize what’s wrong and understand that people will be weak I can’t walk through streets people coming to me and saying can you come Can you run for something? I said, don’t you think I deserve a little rest? They said no. And they say this to me. They’ll say, “Can’t you get them, the rest of them, to do what you’re trying to do? Are they doing it?” And I say, “I think they want to, but sometimes you have to do the thing with them, too.” That’s what I’m going to say. The people Today I’m observing Virginia has always helped define the course of this nation. Now in 2025, an election year, we’re facing a defining moment once again. We see candidates running for office. We need to convey to the people how they will defend their rights, education, freedom, health in the future. The people are woke and the people are watching and the people will remember who stood up and who stood there. God bless you.”
Speaker Don Scott: “I think Governor Wilder said it best – you know, we only can deal with the things within our purview and what we can control is what happens in Virginia. And Virginia leadership has a responsibility to stand up. Here’s the issue. In our code, in statute, it clearly states that these boards, every single board that’s funded by public dollars, every single board is under the control at all times. That’s what the code says. It’s a quote – at all times shall be under the control of the General Assembly. So now we have the opportunity, the General Assembly, to take an in-depth view of what’s going on in all these public universities, especially in light of the fact that they have totally been politicized in a way that we’ve never seen before. What happened to Jim Ryan is a travesty. What’s happening to Greg Washington right now is a travesty. You know, some of the mismanagement and malfeasance that the governor alleges at VCU is a travesty. Now, the the General Assembly has an opportunity, I believe now, in this environment to step up to the plate and make sure that this this not only the federal overreach that we see, but there is state overreach right now. We have to look at every board…. I’m hopeful. I’m going to work with the Senate here in the state and talk about maybe forming a select joint committee to look at these boards to call in some of these past board members to see how we got here…hold them to account. We have the responsibility not only to the governor – he recommends, but we have to confirm their appointment. And so we have to start taking that responsibility a lot more seriously, in light of the fact that they’re doing things that we’ve never seen before. This is not just about governance. This is about pushing forward. This is not about policy. This is a political viewpoint. And I wonder what they think about, you know, going backwards. The opposite of equity is unequal. The opposite of of diversity is homogyny. They want everybody to be the same. You know, we can’t go backwards. Thomas Jefferson said it even when at time, he said, ‘I tremble at the thought that we serve a just God.’ And he knew in that time that there were things that were wrong that needed to be fixed. And so now we have an opportunity of the General Assembly to take a look at. I’m grateful what the Senate is doing some stuff, in a lawsuit I think that may be going on tomorrow I think to deal with some issues. But we have to make sure, this is not just about politics, this is about the Commonwealth as we move forward. And we have a responsibility right now, because there are people, real people being hurt right now, and people are using the pretext of anti-Semitism to attack We’ve all passed bills against hate crime. All of us here, that’s what we’ve done. We’ve stood up against anti-Semitism here. We voted for it. We passed the bills the governor signed. So don’t try to use that as a pretext. This is the time now to make sure that we’re protecting our students. We’re protecting our Commonwealth. We have the number, according to the business community, we have the number one public school education system and the number one higher ed system. These people are hurting our institutions and we have a responsibility now to take another look at it. We may have to even do a JLARC study to see how we got it and see if we need to reorient how we select board members, reorient how we approve. Obviously, we have a situation right now where the governor appoints people, they start serving before they’ve been confirmed. They start making votes and after we’ve told them they won’t be confirmed, which to me is malfeasance. You’ve been told you won’t be confirmed and you go on the board and sit and vote. So, we have a problem here. I hate to give you that long answer, but you asked. So, I have to answer with detail and specificity because that’s what the moment requires.”
Sen. Surovell: “Go look at what Thomas Jefferson said when when he was governor. At the time, I think Virginia only had one state university, which is William and Mary. And he said we needed to create more. And he said, ‘We need to create UVA.’ And part of the reason for that, he said that having a functional democracy is having an educated population. Higher education is key to having a functioning democracy. You want to know why Trump doesn’t like higher education? He doesn’t want a functioning democracy. That’s it. Okay. So, why are they why is this all under assault? That’s at the root base of it. In terms of what the Speaker just talked about, our current code says that these boards of visitors are charged with managing these universities. If they’re not going to manage the university, if they’re not going to defend their school, if they’re not going to fight for their school, the code says that the governor can remove boards for malfeasance or nonfeasance. Malfeasance is doing a bad job. Nonfeasance is not doing your job. You see, now the faculty at UVA and George Mason both write letters. The UVA passed a resolution saying they had no confidence in their board of visitors. George Mason just wrote a letter. Their faculty wrote a letter just a couple days ago saying that their boards of visitors are failing to defend their schools. Okay. That’s why we have to look at how we appoint these people and how how these boards of visitors – we’re going to reform that when we come back in January. I don’t think we need to wait for a JLARC study. I think we have plenty of ideas that we can act on when we get back in January. The other thing is these schools often don’t have a lawyer. You can’t fight another lawyer if you don’t have a lawyer. And unfortunately, the way representation works in our system, our schools don’t have a choice as to who they pick. They’re stuck with an attorney general who nobody can get to give a statement about it. And we tried to fix this two years ago. We tried to fix this by giving them the right to hire their own lawyer two years ago. The Governor vetoed. So, from my perspective, there’s been a deliberate, coordinated effort to get this done at the very beginning. You remember the first two things Jason Miyares did when he when he be when he became when he became attorney general, aside from firing 30 people in his office. He fired the lawyer UVA. He fired the lawyer George Mason and put in somebody who was Heritage Foundation connected. And now you look what’s happening. You know they don’t have a lawyer. So there’s some big reforms we need to do on the system to get around and I think you’re going to see some big changes. And we also have board of visitor nominations pending. We have eight people that we’re going to find out what happens about according to tomorrow and Monday. There’s, I think, 58 more nominations the governor has made that are still out there for us to decide whether or not we want to confirm or not. The Speaker’s right. We’re going to look at them really carefully. We’re going to decide whether these people are actually capable of exercising their own independent judgment and doing the job they’ve been nominated to do. Those are just things we can do in the short term and the medium term, but it’s clear we have to make some big reforms in our system that maintain our number one rating.”
Speaker Scott: “I mean it’s going to come down I mean this is actually the US Department of Justice coming down on this situation. So we’ll see. I mean we just saw yesterday Colombia University settled with the government…$200 million something crazy. I mean there is the type of assault on higher ed right now is crazy. And I understand you know there are some larger schools who have a history that these Heritage Foundation folks have had on their list to target forever. But George Mason…is not that. And if you look at George Mason, UVA, the applications are up, the schools are doing well, the funding is well, the alumni still support the school. I think all we can do right now is raise awareness, because the…federal government has put a target on their back and there’s nothing that the state legislature can do other than make sure that when…we have a board and we have attorneys that are actually fighting the federal government. Right now they have totally capitulated – Jason Miyares has capitulated, he has surrendered, in fact he’s cooperating today. And so we have a responsibility I think as we move forward to put in some guard rails and I think to do that we need the public support so we need to let them know what’s happening now so when we do make these changes, they’ll understand why we have to do them.”
…My view is that based at UVA and if they do anything to Dr. Washington at George Mason, they should probably…this board needs to listen very clearly. They probably should put a freeze on any hiring, because we will not support whatever it is that they do. This is an illegitimate board right now that has been appointed and been told that they will not be appointed permanently. So if they go about selecting a president when they know they they will not be there in January, that’s wrong. So I hope that they will put a moratorum and a freeze on any search for a president right now. They have an interim. They need to sit tight because we’re going to make changes in January. They should expect that. It would be totally irresponsible and they would be disrespecting, ignoring the will of the General Assembly. which is the will of the people. That’s right. If they go ahead and go forward with the president or appointment of a president of UVA.”
Sen. Surovell: “I’ve already publicly said the exact same thing weeks ago. I said they should not make any steps towards picking a permanent president of UVA. Right now, there are, I think, five vacancies on that board based on the actions the Senate’s already taken. There are, I think, four more people that are in play, now that the governor has nominated in addition to the five we’ve already rejected. And that means that come next July 30, next July 1st of 2026, when there’s a new governor, there’s the potential to have nine new members on a 16 member board, which means there would be a entirely different majority in all likelihood on that board of visitors deciding things. And so they shouldn’t make any permanent decision. Things are going to have long-term impact on that school right now. Because the changes are coming whether we act on changing the law or not, there’s going to be a different majority on that board.”
Speaker Scott: “If I were a president thinking about coming to UVA right now, I would think very twice about whether I’m going beyond. They probably ought to think about that if they think about taking a job there because we’re gonna try I tell you right now with this is an illegitimate board, we’re going to be trying to reverse that decision…They said [Dr. Washington] promoted first of all they said he promoted diversity, and then they said that he failed to combat anti-Semitism. That’s that’s the basis. We don’t have any proof of any of that. In fact, I think more than 50 Jewish professors came out in support of Dr. Washington…and all of the Jewish legislators support him. So, we just have to be thoughtful about what this pretext is that they’re doing, what this red herring is that they’re pointing to try to get an outcome that they want to remove the second Black president in less than a few months with General Washington and VMI. This is a pattern – and Dr. Washington at George Mason. So, we see it. We have a responsibility to call it out and hopefully we’ll be able to put some guard rails in place come January.”
