Tuesday on CNN’s “The Lead,” Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) said the Trump administration could not be allowed to “mandate what happens on college campuses.”
Host Jake Tapper said, “In eight weeks, Democrat Abigail Spanberger will be sworn in as the first-ever woman Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, but before taking office, she’s already in a back-and-forth with Virginia’s current governor, Republican Glenn Youngkin. They are sparring over who should get a say in naming the next president of the University of Virginia. A little background here, last June, then UVA president James Ryan abruptly resigned amid pressure from the Trump administration to dismantle the university’s DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion programs, amidst the threat of a cutoff in federal funding.”
Spanberger said, “This matters to people across Virginia because UVA is one of our flagship universities. We have extraordinary public universities here in the Commonwealth, and the board of visitors that make decisions for our public universities, UVA included. Those members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by our general assembly. And while we have seen attacks on academic freedom, attacks on the choices that the University of Virginia and other universities can make, what we haven’t seen is a governor in our current governor stand up for UVA, stand up for academic freedom.”
Tapper said, “I understand what you’re saying about academic freedom, but what do you make of the argument that colleges and universities can be more receptive to criticism than they have, in many cases, become hotbeds of progressive ideology that have resulted in incidents of anti-Semitism?”
Spanberger said, “Well, I think you make an important point, which is that universities and academic freedom doesn’t necessarily mean that we should pivot one way or another.”
She added, “Unfortunately, what we saw as it related to his ouster from the university was a mandate from the federal government and essentially a requirement that UVA fire him or ultimately that he resign; otherwise, federal grant dollars, research funding, all of it was under threat. And so while I hear you on the first part of the question, and I think it’s an important thing for us to continue to have conversations about how do we debate, how do we ensure all students feel safe amid that debate, you know, that that shouldn’t allow the Department of Justice and ultimately the Trump administration to mandate what happens on college campuses.”
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