On July 29th, a Fairfax County Circuit Court decided in favor of a group of 9 Virginia State Senators, myself included, in our suit against the Chairmen of the Board at UVA, VMI, and GMU. I want to explain why this ruling was so important, and how we are continuing to fight it by standing up for George Mason’s President Gregory Washington.

The Rules of the Senate, which every Senator votes on at the beginning of their 4 year term, state that when the Governor makes nominations to a university Board of Visitors or any other nomination subject to confirmation by the General Assembly, those nominations shall first be considered by the Senate Committee on Privileges & Elections.  As a member of that committee (which we call “P&E), I take this duty seriously, and in my two legislative terms I have voted to report many of the Governor’s nominees to the full Senate for confirmation.

But when we reviewed the latest nominees, we felt many of them were not qualified, and that some of them were inappropriately partisan choices for the apolitical work these boards do in service to our students. We met on June 9th to reject these nominations in the same fashion that the Senate has done for more than fifty years.  

In a letter, our current Attorney General Jason Miyares directed the three boards, who are required by law to seek legal counsel only through the Attorney General’s office, to allow the rejected nominees to continue to serve as Board members, on the flimsy legal theory that the P&E Committee’s vote was insufficient, and that only the full Senate could vote to reject the nominations.  

If Republicans genuinely believed this was about the process, they could have raised it during the committee debate. The constitutional requirement that all bills be reported out of committee could have been satisfied through a “Committee of the Whole,” with the same outcome: a Democratic majority prevailing.

This was never about the process. This was an effort by AG Miyares to test the limits of the law, and to exert as much influence on our public universities as he could for as long as he could. Is that what Miyares means when he claims to support “academic freedom?”

“Academic freedom” might be empty buzz words for some, but the words have profound meaning to me. As a proud alum and now a Virginia State Senator, I want to speak directly about what George Mason University represents not just to politicians or board members, but to students and families like mine.

GMU continues to evolve. From its rising national rankings, from 72 to 51 in the US News ranking of Public Institutions, to its recognition as a world-class research institution, gaining R1 status in 2017 for a research program led by computer science and information technology.  In 2023, GMU was recognized by EduRank as #1 in the nation for research performance in entrepreneurship.  

Mason has grown but it hasn’t lost sight of its roots.  For many, including me, Mason has been more than a university. It has been a door to a future we weren’t always sure we’d reach.

Let me tell you my story. Before I graduated high school, I had no idea what college even looked like for someone like me. As an immigrant and first-generation student, higher education wasn’t a conversation we had at home. It felt distant and uncertain.

I enrolled in Northern Virginia Community College through the Pathway to the Baccalaureate program, which offers students like me guaranteed admission to partner universities after completing their associate degree.

After earning my AA, I transferred to George Mason University. There, I earned my BA in Public Administration and eventually my Master of Public Administration.

My time at Mason changed my life not just academically, but personally. I found purpose, community, and the tools to become who I am today.

Mason has always been a university that reflects the community it serves: diverse, driven, and determined. Many of its students are commuters, first-generation college-goers, working adults, or immigrants. That’s not a weakness, that’s its strength.

When Dr. Washington began his tenure, he brought with him a vision to expand access and opportunity even further and for so many, that vision was real and tangible.

What GMU offers students like me can’t be measured by political headlines or board disputes. It’s measured in the lives changed, the communities uplifted, and the doors opened for those who once thought they didn’t belong in higher education.

And now, as the university and its president come under attack, it’s more important than ever that we protect the institution, its students, and its faculty.

I continue to stand with GMU and I hope you will too.