CHARLOTTESVILLE VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Appearing on The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart, Virginia Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger called a University of Virginia agreement with the feds “a weakened pact,” and promised changes are coming to the way the Commonwealth allows its universities to govern themselves.

Spanberger was on the Nov. 21 podcast, along with New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, as women who were elected to Congress the same day back in 2018, elected as governor of their states this past Nov. 4, and even roomed together in Washington when they began serving in Congress in 2019.

Stewart, a 1984 William & Mary graduate, asked Spanberger, a UVA grad, about the Trump Administration in light of antisemitism claims made at the University of Virginia, George Mason University, as in other universities around the nation.

“Virginia might be a bit of a unique case, at least relative to some of the private universities that have come under fire, because our universities are public,” Spanberger said. “The Board of Visitors, as we call the governing board in the Commonwealth, are appointed by the Governor and then they have to be confirmed by the legislature.”

She noted that at a number of Virginia’s universities, “we have boards that are not fully constituted, as is the case with UVA.”

“And, in fact, UVA’s board, because of the fact it is not fully constituted, because it’s missing five members, it’s also not statutorily compliant,” Spanberger said. “There are requirements related to residency, requirement for a certain number of UVA grads to be on that board and are in the middle of this search process.”

She called the recent agreement Rector Rachel Sheridan and interim President Paul Mahoney signed with the federal government, “this weakened pact”.

Spanberger said the UVA leadership was, “out celebrating that UVA wouldn’t have to pay any damages to the federal government”.

“The question is ‘for what,'” Spanberger said.

She then alluded to the letter released last week by President Jim Ryan about what led to his resignation that, “he spoke to the fact that their intentionality around recruitment of students isn’t necessarily related just to the kind of diversity people will think of in gender or in race, but in fact in making sure that if you’re from the coal fields of Virginia, you know you can get to the University of Virginia. It’s not just northern Virginia kids that get there”.

She said she will be appointed board members who will, “steady the ship”.

Spanberger also intends to champion legislation in General Assembly to change the fact the state Attorney General appoints university’s counsels.

“When people question why the university or president didn’t defend themselves, well because the University counsel was handpicked by our state Attorney General who’s doing the bidding for the Department of Justice,” Spanberger said.

On his first day in office in January 2022, State Attorney General Jason Miyares fired Tim Heaphy as UVA general counsel (Heaphy was on a leave of absence as chief counsel for the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack) along with Brian Walther at George Mason.

Both universities have specifically come under federal investigation this year by the Department of Justice and the Department of Education respectively.