This is personal.
I urge you to read this essay from the New York Times, in which the author does a far better job than the next series of paragraphs in laying out the case against the unconstitutional overreach of the Trump Administration. Yet, I persist.
Having already railroaded UVA's President out of office in the MAGA version of an online Soviet show-trial—the Trump Administration and its reckless, unconstitutional, utterly unconservative march toward monarchy--is now attempting to extort UVA (along with a eight other institutions*) into its version of a four-year Maoist re-education camp. Nothing about this is sane, let alone legal, and UVA--with the backing of its as-yet quiescent Republican Governor--must not give in. If—as it increasingly seems—Virginia elects a Democratic Governor next month (a wonderful Wahoo herself), she must lead this effort.
Readers not familiar with the origin story of this Substack should dilate upon its title for a moment. The Conservative Wahoo. Conservative as in modern American conservatism and its emphases on limited government, rule of law, free markets, and strong defense. And Wahoo, as in the common nickname of those who attend the University of Virginia, which along with my father's example and my service in the Navy, comprise the three-legged stool upon which my life has been lived.
No fair observer can discount the leftward drift of the American higher education system, and conservatives (including this one) have been justifiably perturbed at the radicalism, antisemitism, and anti-Americanism that is nourished therein. Between the Title IX Star Chambers and the reflexive leftwing stance of the faculty lounge, American universities have become increasingly hostile to students who differ from the prevailing passions of their cohort, not to mention the views and interests of generations of alumni. The 2011 Obama Administration “Dear Colleague” Letter put the Executive imprimatur on presidential overreach in directly imposing ideological standards on American Universities, a precedence gleefully taken up by the Trumpenproletariat and its bizzarro fascination with higher education (runaway credentialism in burnishing the backgrounds of its Ivy-League nominees, even as they dispute the benefits of attendance therein).
This is payback, pure and simple, and the druids in charge will have their pound of flesh. The plain truth of the matter is that the administration is—as in so many areas of American life—asserting presidential power in domains where none exists. This is wrong, this is destabilizing, and this is unconstitutional. The administration of state universities is the duty of the several states, and the administration of private universities is the duty of their boards. That students receive federal support to attend these institutions and that those institutions receive other forms of federal support is a matter for the legislative process, in which the Executive has a role, but not plenary power. This is not unlike the ongoing tariff dispute, and if a even elementary understanding of the Constitution and statute is applied, courts will rein in the President and his runaway authoritarianism.
UVA is in a tough position right now. Its President—who I did not know but who I watched like a hawk from the commanding heights of my own conservatism and my growing sense of unease with American higher education—was a positive force for the University, negotiating with skill the white-water rapids of faculty and student activism, overbearing political influence from both parties, and an increasingly grumpy group of alumni and donors. Because Mitch Daniels was unavailable, I compared Jim Ryan not with some vision of the perfect, but against the competition—other Presidents of major American universities facing the same challenges as he. I watched them beclown themselves on public stages, I read their cowardly dissembling, and I positively contrasted the steady leadership Ryan provided. Oh, and by the way. UVA was ranked the #1 college in the country by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) (no leftist front here) for its “2025 College Free Speech Rankings.”
Did I agree with everything the University was doing? Of course not. But Jim Ryan was an honorable man doing the best he could to guide a place he (and I) loved through the tumult that is rocking all aspects of American life these days.
The thing I keep coming back to is the short-sightedness of those who think this kind of strong-arming is wise and warranted. Have you not followed American politics? Are you not aware that things change? Do you not understand that those you would punish now will someday be in a position to punish those who agree with you, and that position might be vastly more powerful as a result of the actions of those you now agree with?
Without a President, I am concerned for my Dear Old UVA. I am concerned for each of these nine universities, and I agree with the subject matter essay above that the key to resisting the Trump putsch is solidarity.
Most of all though, I am concerned for my country. I am concerned that we are violating the Law of Armed Conflict with summary executions of northbound speedboat crews suspected of criminal activity. I am concerned that our Secretary of Defense is more concerned with body-fat measurements than he is with the drift toward isolationism happening within his Department masquerading as gearing up for China and playing out primarily in the abandonment of Ukraine. I am concerned that the President’s economic innumeracy is driving up the cost of living and depriving American farmers of access to markets they once dominated. I am concerned about the obvious abuse of the American legal system and its increasingly overt application in settling personal scores of the President. And without a doubt, my number one concern is the degree to which the Congress has ceased to be an effective branch of our Constitutional system, jealous of its own prerogatives. The overt toadying to the President of what once passed for the GOP’s legislative might bespeaks rampant cowardice and the further deterioration of this Republic.
*From the essay in the first paragraph: “Letters were sent on Wednesday to the University of Arizona, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas, Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia.”
The News From UVA Is Not All Bad
The UVA football team is 5-1, one boneheaded interception away from being undefeated. This coincides with the second season of my having let my season tickets lapse, so there may be some connection.
Virginia is a plucky team with a surprisingly good offense (yesterday notwithstanding). They get a bye-week next week, so there will be some time for a REALLY banged up offensive line to recover.
As of right now, UVA is probably favored over every one of its remaining opponents. This of course has me terrified that the Virginia Polytechnical Institute and State University will wreck everything on the day after Thanksgiving, but such is the burden we Wahoos carry (well that, and an authoritarian federal government trying to grind us down).
I plan on attending the Wake Forest game in early November, and I will report on my findings thereafter.
Thank you. Great post. "And without a doubt, my number one concern is the degree to which the Congress has ceased to be an effective branch of our Constitutional system, jealous of its own prerogatives. The overt toadying to the President of what once passed for the GOP’s legislative might bespeaks rampant cowardice and the further deterioration of this Republic.", is spot on.
Thank you very much, Captain! Spasibo bol'shoe. It is my honor to have served in the Navy led by honorable patriots such as you.
(I'm not a Wahoo; UVa is a superb institution. I began as a Bull Dawg but finished, 13 years later - thanks to NCFA, a Terrapin.)