Thomas Jefferson’s Rotunda at the University of Virginia
n a year marked by turmoil and outside pressures directed at the University of Virginia, the appointment of Scott C. Beardsley as UVA’s 10th president should be a moment for unity — not political posturing. On December 19, UVA’s Board of Visitors unanimously selected Beardsley, the long-serving dean of the Darden School of Business, to assume the university’s highest leadership role effective January 1, 2026. His credentials and accomplishments stand on their own merits, and the process that led to his selection — through a robust search and unanimous board vote — should be respected rather than turned into a partisan football.
Beardsley is not a political actor. His career offers little evidence that he has ever sought to be one.
During his decade at Darden, Beardsley built a reputation as a disciplined, data-driven academic leader focused on institutional excellence rather than ideology. Under his leadership, Darden expanded its full-time and executive MBA programs, grew its faculty ranks, strengthened global offerings, and dramatically increased philanthropic support. The school consistently ranked among the very best business schools in the world, not because of headline-grabbing rhetoric, but because of steady investment in teaching quality, student experience, and intellectual rigor.
A RECORD OF INCREDIBLE ACCOMPLISHMENT
Darden School of Business Dean Scott Beardsley
Fundraising flourished. New programs launched. Faculty governance remained intact. Students benefited from a school that managed to innovate without destabilizing its culture. These are not the achievements of a culture warrior; they are the markers of a pragmatic institutional steward. His accomplishments is why he was named Dean of the Year by Poets&Quants five years after he assumed that leadership role in 2015.
Just as telling is what Beardsley did not do. He did not inject partisan politics into the classroom. He did not use his platform to wage ideological battles. He did not attempt to remake Darden in the image of any political movement, left or right. Instead, he emphasized respectful dialogue, evidence-based decision-making, and leadership development grounded in ethics and responsibility — principles that resonate across political lines.
That apolitical posture is precisely what makes Beardsley such a strong candidate to lead UVA at a moment of heightened sensitivity. Universities today are under constant pressure from outside forces eager to turn academic leadership into a symbol or a scorecard. Resisting that pressure requires a president who understands governance, respects institutional norms, and knows how to lead without inflaming divisions.
BEARDSLEY SHOULD NOT BECOME A POLITICAL PAWN
Yet even before Beardsley has the chance to begin, his appointment has been swept into a broader political dispute over timing, authority, and control of the Board of Visitors. That is deeply troubling. A unanimous board decision following a full search over the past five months should not be casually second-guessed for political convenience. Doing so sends a dangerous signal: that leadership at Virginia’s flagship university is contingent not on merit or experience, but on who happens to hold power at a given moment.
Turning Scott Beardsley into a political pawn undermines the very independence that has long made UVA a national model for public higher education. It also risks discouraging future leaders — thoughtful, accomplished, and deliberately non-partisan — from stepping forward at all.
Beardsley has spent his career strengthening institutions, not exploiting them. He has shown that it is possible to lead a complex academic enterprise with humility, restraint, and focus. UVA would be well served by allowing him to do the same on a larger stage.
The university needs leadership, not leverage. It needs stability, not spectacle. And it needs a president chosen for what he has demonstrably done — not what others wish to project onto him. He will succeed James E. Ryan who stepped down over the summer amid pressure from the Trump administration over diversity, equity and inclusion policies. But no less crucial, Ryan also did a mediocre job in managing a major controversy at UVA Health and consistently failed the test of transparency.
Let Scott Beardsley lead. And let UVA remain a university, not a political bargaining chip.
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