Erik Linstrum

4 RELIGIOUS STUDIES FACULTY: Where are the humanities professors? Lawyers, financiers, teachers, students and, yes, Olympic swimmers belong on the search committee. But, surely, faculty members who carry out a core mission of the University belong there, too.

www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

On the search committee for a new president
at UVA: There are more Olympic swimmers than humanities professors. There are more money managers than humanities professors. There are, in fact, zero humanities professors (and only one from the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences).

Massachusetts governor proposes $400 million for colleges, citing federal ‘uncertainty.’

Every governor (realistically, every Democratic governor) should be doing this www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/u...

I spent decades at Columbia. I’m withdrawing my fall course due to its deal with Trump | Rashid Khalidi The university’s draconian policies and new definition of antisemitism make much teaching impossible

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Seems clear that the Columbia capitulation crosses the red line of academic freedom, if what Rashid Khalidi says here is accurate (and I have no reason to think it is not)

Wow. A group of top scholars at Harvard just sent a letter to its president, Alan Garber, warning against surrendering to Trump.

Signatories include Steven Levitsky, Dani Rodrik, Ryan Enos, Theda Skocpol, and Steven Walt.

Someone forwarded it to me. Read it here:

💯

2009 Presidential Search • 9 current BOV members • 2 former BOV members (both Rectors) • 6 faculty members • 2 students BOV Members • John O. Wynne (Law '71), rector, Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia • W. Heywood Fralin (College '62), immediate past rector, Board of Visitors • Daniel R. Abramson (College '70), vice rector, Board of Visitors • A. Macdonald Caputo (College '63, Law '66), Board of Visitors • Susan Y. Dorsey (Architecture '82, Darden 87), Board of Visitors • Helen E. Dragas (College '84, Darden 88), Board of Visitors • Austin Ligon, Board of Visitors • Vincent J. Mastracco Jr. (College '61), Board of Visitors • Warren M. Thompson (Darden 83), Board of Visitors Former BOV Members • Thomas F. Farrell || (College '76, Law '79), former rector and current member of the board of the University's College at Wise • Gordon F. Rainey (College 62, Law '67), former rector and current chairman of the University's $3 billion capital campaign Faculty • Robert Eatton Jr., Julia A. Cooper Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs in the Department of Politics and associate dean of graduate programs in the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. • James N. Galloway, Sidman P. Poole Professor of Environmental Sciences and associate dean for the sciences in the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. • Ann B. Hamric, professor in the School of Nursing and chair of the Faculty Senate. • John C. Jeffries Jr. (Law '73), David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law. He joined the faculty in 1975, and served from 2001 to 2008 as dean of the School of Law. • Deborah E. McDowell, director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies and Alice Griffin Professor of Literary Studies. • Dr. Peyton T. Taylor, Crockett Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the School of Medicine, founding director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology and associate medical director of the U.Va. Cancer Center. Students • J…

2017 Presidential Search 11 current BOV members 3 former BOV members (2 of them Rectors) • 5 faculty members 2 students • 1 senior member of the UVA Medical Center management team BOV Members • William H. Goodwin, Jr. (Darden 66), Rector (co-Chair) • Frank M. "Rusty" Conner III (College '78, Law '81), Vice Rector (co-Chair) • Mark T. Bowles • L.D. Britt, M.D. (College '72) • Whittington W. "Whitt" Clement (College '70, Law '74) • Elizabeth M. Cranwell (College '86) • Thomas A. DePasquale (Commerce '82) • Barbara J. Fried (College '04) • Babur B. Lateef, M.D. • John G. Macfarlane III (Darden '79) • James B. Murray Jr. (College '68) Former BOV Members • Thomas F. Farrell || (College '76, Law '79) CEO of Dominion Resources Inc., and former rector, Board of Visitors • Victoria D. Harker (College '86), COO of Tegna Inc., former member of the Board of Visitors, and former chair of the UVA Alumni Association Board of Managers • George Keith Martin (College 75), managing partner, McGuireWoods LLP, and former rector, Board of Visitors Students of Visitors • Phoebe A. Willis (College '13), second-year Law and Darden student and student representative, Board • Aryn Frazier, fourth-year undergraduate student and a recently named Rhodes Scholar Faculty • John C. Jeffries Jr. (Law '73), David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law and former dean, UVA School of Law • Robert. F. Bruner, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration and dean emeritus, Darden School of Business • Michael F. Suarez, S.J., University Professor of English and director, Rare Book School • Margaret Foster "Mimi" Riley, chair of the Faculty Senate and Professor of Law • Jahan Ramazani (College '81), University Professor and Edgar F. Shannon Professor, Department of English Senior Administrator - UVA Health • Pamela Sutton-Wallace, CEO, UVA Medical Center

2025 Presidential Search • 12 current BOV members (1 is the student rep, 1 is the faculty rep) • 3 former BOV members (1 of them a Rector) • 4 Vice Presidents and senior leaders • 4 alumni • 3 faculty members • 1 student • 1 staff member BOV Members • Rachel Sheridan, committee chair: rector of the University; president, Virginia Athletics Foundation; partner, Capital Markets Group, Kirkland & Ellis. Sheridan earned an undergraduate degree from UVA in 1994 and a law degree in 1998. She is the parent of a UVA student. • Porter Wilkinson, committee vice chair: vice rector of the University; counselor and chief of staff, Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents. Wilkinson earned a law degree from UVA in 2007. • Jim Donovan: member, UVA Board of Visitors; vice chairman, Global Client Coverage at Goldman Sachs; adjunct professor, UVA School of Law; board member, Karsh Institute of Democracy. Donovan is the parent of a UVA student. • Marvin Gilliam: member, UVA Board of Visitors; owner and manager, MAM Development; trustee, Virginia Athletics Foundation. Gilliam graduated from UVA in 1978. • John Harris: member, UVA Board of Visitors; private investor and previous managing director, chief financial officer and senior adviser for The Carlyle Group. Harris graduated from UVA in 1982. • Paul Manning: member, UVA Board of Visitors; chair, UVA Health System Board; chair and CEO of PBM Capital • John Nau: member, UVA Board of Visitors; former chair and CEO of Silver Eagle Distributors. Nau graduated from UVA in 1968. • Dr. David Okonkwo: member, UVA Board of Visitors; professor of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. Okonkwo is a 1994 UVA graduate and the parent of a UVA student. • Amanda Pillion: member, UVA Board of Visitors; former mayor of Abingdon. Pillion earned an undergraduate degree from UVA in 1997 and a master's in 1999. She is the parent of a UVA student. • Doug Wetmore: member, UVA Board of Visitors; senior vice president for business development, …

Former BOV Members • Dr. Babur Lateef: former member, UVA Board of Visitors; former chair, UVA Health System Board; chair, Prince William County School Board; founder and owner, Advanced Ophthalmology. Lateef is a UVA graduate student. • George Martin: former rector of the University; former managing partner, McGuireWoods. Martin graduated from UVA in 1975. • Jimmy Reyes: former member, UVA Board of Visitors; owner, Reyes Holdings Vice Presidents & Senior Leaders Kenyon Bonner: UVA vice president and chief student affairs officer. Bonner is the parent of a UVA student. • Lori McMahon: UVA vice president for research; professor of neuroscience • Dr. Mitch Rosner: chair, UVA Department of Medicine; Henry B. Mulholland Professor of Medicine; interim executive vice president for health affairs at UVA Health • Carla Williams: UVA director of athletics. Williams is the parent of a UVA student. Faculty • Philip Bourne: founding dean, School of Data Science; professor of biomedical engineering • David Leblang: Ambassador Henry J. Taylor and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Endowed Professor of Politics at the College of Arts & Sciences; professor of public policy, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy; director of policy studies, UVA's Miller Center of Public Affairs Sherri Moore: associate professor, Mcintire School of Commerce. Moore graduated from UVA in 1985. Staff Student • Adam Richard: co-chair, UVA Staff Senate Executive Committee • Quana Dennis: faculty member, Saint Anne's-Belfield School. Dennis graduated from UVA in 2023 and earned a master's in 2024 and is a UVA doctoral student. Alumni • Gretchen Walsh: Olympian; world record holder; NCAA Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year (swimming and diving). Walsh graduated from UVA in May. • Marvin Bush: vice president and director, Winston Capital Management and Winston Partners Group; vice president, Virginia Athletics Foundation. Bush graduated from UVA in 1979. • Pam Edmonds: trustee emerita, the College Foundati…

The previous two presidential search committees looked MUCH different. The current Rector’s disrespect for shared governance is staggering.

UVA announces special committee to help select 10th president The committee includes current and past University leaders, faculty members, students and several alumni.

There are 28 members on the committee to select a new president at UVA. There's exactly one faculty member from Arts & Sciences, the biggest school and the heart of undergraduate education. There are 10 members from a discredited board news.virginia.edu/content/uva-...

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/n...

So the deal appears to be: accept the imposition of a pro-Israel agenda on Middle Eastern studies in exchange for keeping the science $$$ flowing

Wow, they might actually drive me to boycott the site and go 100% analog

The current administration's systematic dismantling of our research infrastructure—402 documented attacks in just 6 months—represents more than policy disagreement. It's an abandonment of the principle that knowledge should serve the common good and expand opportunity for all communities.

Opinion | I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/o...

There are so many shallow, cynical, and self-serving abuses of history today. This is a reminder that histories of the present can be different. Powerful and clear-eyed by Omer Bartov

phoenixartspace.org/Events/kinna...

Nine years after Ruling Minds came out, I keep hearing from artists and writers who are doing interesting things with the history of dream research in the empire. The latest is Kinnari Saraiya's exhibition In the Eye of a Dream at Brighton. So wish I could see it in person!

Is there really no prospect of a federal court remedying the abuse of power by the government here?

Frankly, an embarrassing and evasive performance by BOV leadership, detailed in this thread from @emgunter.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/emgu...

The UVA Faculty Senate has overwhelmingly voted to express no confidence in the Board of Visitors "for not protecting the university and its president from outside interference and for not consulting with the Faculty Senate in a time of crisis"

Spotted in LA

A statement by 401 concerned faculty regarding the crisis of President Ryan’s forced resignation We call on the Board to collaborate closely with faculty in appointing an Interim President to guide the university through this perilous time.

NEW: More than 400 UVA faculty demand an independent investigation of the circumstances leading to President Ryan's ouster before a new presidential search is launched www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

Further misadventures in research with AI: I'm trying to get Claude to create an index of proper names from my research notes. It's not going great

There will now be 10,000 new ICE agents & 100,000 new detention beds--and few safeguards protecting people from constitutional violations by the feds.

Time for states to pass laws allowing people to sue fed agents. Read about it these "converse-1983" statutes here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

State-sponsored vandalism

Penn and Harvard were pre-Trump; I was thinking of Armstrong at Columbia. But these are the fine points of a very ugly picture.

Excellent piece except I think we can say Columbia was first

I don’t know if there are any letters yet (and acknowledge their limitations) but Wahoos4UVA has been an active counterweight to the Jefferson Council

Double thanks! Swamped in the short term but I’d love to be in touch about working on this. Shoot me an email when you can?

Thanks for this! Please do share and circulate. Perhaps it will come in handy elsewhere