CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, said she supports legislation currently being drafted to revise the way members of university boards in Virginia are appointed and confirmed.

Speaking at a campus campaign event with UVA students, faculty and staff members, Hashmi listened to concerns about the federal government’s increasing influence on higher education in Virginia and spoke to the attendees about ways the state government can serve as a “barrier” to protect schools like UVA for the Trump administration.

“There’s a lot to work to be done,” Hashmi told the group of about 30 UVA community members at Monroe Hill House. “There’s a lot of work to be undone.”

The issue has been in the spotlight since former UVA president Jim Ryan resigned under pressure from the Trump administration. The university subsequently rejected Trump’s “Compact for Excellence in Higher Education,” but did reach a separate agreement with the federal government to end a group of Department of Justice investigations into the school’s admissions practices, among other topics.

During that, Democrats blocked a group of UVA Board of Visitor appointments by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Hashmi said the Virginia Democrats are “in the drafting stage” of legislation that would lessen the governor’s control over board appointments, would require General Assembly confirmation before board members can begin serving and give student, faculty and staff voting representation on the boards.

“What that’s actually going to look like is not fully in shape,” said Hashmi, who holds a 2-point lead over Republican John Reid according to a Christon Newport University Wason Center poll released Monday. “But taking it out of the hands of one individual, I think, is a very important first step for us to take.”

Hashmi, who serves as the chairperson of the Senate’s education and health committee, said she expects to review the first draft of the legislation proposal “in the next few weeks.”

Hashmi said that, while Richmond can’t stop what’s being done in Washington D.C., Virginia’s executive branch can both shield the schools from federal overreach and guarantee state funds can be depended on.

Introducing Hashmi at Monday’s event, UVA professor Ian Mullins said, “this is a very difficult time for higher education and particularly UVA. We have endured several attempts from the federal government to take away our independence and our academic freedom.”

Hashmi took questions from the attendees and was asked about protecting diversity on university campuses – among students and faculty – about Virginia’s decision to reject the Trump administration’s “Compact for Excellence in Higher Education,” and about the deal that interim president Paul Mahoney reached with the DOJ to end outstanding investigations into the school’s practices.

Professor Geeta Patel said she wanted to share some perspectives of her students, who fear that the agreement UVA struck with the DOJ will limit the school’s ability to attract a diverse faculty and student body.

“They looked around the classroom and said, ‘This classroom will look different,'” Patel said.

Patel said she has shared Virginia’s efforts to block federal interference in higher education with colleagues nationwide.

“What you are doing in the legislature is literally helping universities in state after state after state,” Patel said.

Hashmi criticized the Trump administration for its efforts to influence Virginia higher education, particularly its work to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and to curb the number of international students and professors at the school.

“The education that happens in institutions such as these is not coming necessarily just from books, from the curricula, from the materials,” Hashmi said. “It’s actually coming from the community. Having that opportunity of diverse perspectives and insights and skills and abilities is so fundamentally critical.”

Hashmi criticized the Youngkin administration for laying the groundwork for Trump’s current reach into Commonwealth universities, and said that the Democratic ticket of Abigail Spanberger for Governor, herself for lieutenant governor and Jay Jones for Attorney General, would help insulate the schools from the federal government, cutting down on “political interference.”

“I know this community, in particular, has felt that,” Hashmi said.

She said the Youngkin administration threatened the loss of state funding if schools didn’t align with federal directives, threats Commonwealth schools would not face, she argued, if Democrats controlled the executive branch.

Hashmi said that if Democrats win next week’s statewide elections, it will join coalitions with other states who are working to shield their universities from federal overreach.