CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger is calling on the University of Virginia Board of Visitors to pause its Presidential selection process until a full board is appointed and confirmed by the General Assembly.

In a letter to Rector Rachel Sheridan and Vice Rector Porter Wilkinson, Spanberger, “reaffirms her commitment to appoint board members who will uphold an academic excellence, restore trust in University leadership, and conduct a thorough, transparent process to select the University’s next President.”

Virginia’s BOV is in the process of searching for the next president. It named a selection committee in August and that group is considering a pool of candidates recommended by an executive search firm.

The committee had planned to interview candidates later this month, but Spanberger’s letter calls for them to pause the process until after her Jan. 17 inauguration.

“As both a proud alumna and the Governor-elect of the Commonwealth of Virginia, I am deeply concerned by recent developments at the University of Virginia and how these challenges may impact the legitimacy of the current search for the University’s next president,” Spanberger wrote.

Spanberger went on to write that the actions of the Board of Visitors over the past six months, “have severely undermined the public’s and the University community’s confidence in the Board’s ability to govern productively, transparently, and in the best interests of the University.”

She said this loss of confidence was reflected in numerous votes of no confidence from both the faculty senate and student council, and that with five Board appointees have failed to receive confirmation from the General Assembly, the Board is not fully constituted which further calls into question its legitimacy.

“The search for a university president is the most consequential action a university board can undertake,” she wrote, “and in all cases, such a search must be conducted through a legitimate and transparent process. That requirement is especially critical for the University of Virginia at this moment, and that legitimate and transparent process must be led by a Board that is fully constituted and commands the trust of the University community and the confidence of the citizens of the Commonwealth.”

The search firm CEO John Isaacson said in a September 21 meeting, before presenting a first list of 30 candidates to the committee in early October stated, “We rarely moved this quickly.”

However, at a subsequent meeting, he said they were moving at a good pace.

“The historic strength of the University, and the loyalty of its students, faculty, and alumni have provided a foundation of a search that shows up in the both the way in which these listening sessions have occurred, the speed with which they have occurred, the strength of them, the clarify to the response,” Isaacson said.

Following the first open session, sociology professor Ian Mullins with the UVA United Campus Workers of Virginia chapter questioned why this process is going so fast and called for the reconstitution of the committee.

“I think it’s really important to think that if the BOV really wants to lower the temperature,” he said, “then they actually have to do the repair work that’s required to lower the temperature.”

Dr. Mullins complained we still don’t know why Jim Ryan resigned, or how or why members were selected for this committee, nor why it’s necessary to make a Presidential selection in such an abbreviated 4-to-6-months’ time, saying, “They can’t just expect the community to pretend like this is business as usual, and to force a candidate through that is going to walk into a situation where they are not set up to succeed.”

“We all want what best for UVA, we all care about this place and we want to work with them, but they actually have to meet us halfway,” Mullins said.