CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Charlottesville Democratic State Senator Creigh Deeds sits on two key committees overseeing University Administrations, and tells CvilleRightNow “in my view, (the UVA Board of Visitors) has “not protected the University from outside influences”. Deeds sits on Senate Finance, which holds the purse strings for all state entities including universities, and on Privileges and Elections that approves appointees to state board and commissions, including University boards of visitors.

He approves the selection of Paul Mahoney as interim President as “a stable voice on an interim basis” and said he has full confidence in him.

However, he’s concerned about how the decision-making process is being conducted by UVA’s BOV.

“In my view, the current board… I’m afraid that a lot of the decisions that were made toward the end of Jim Ryan’s tenure were made by the present rector and vice rector without the input of the last rector and vice rector, and perhaps without the input of other visitors,” Deeds said.

The board majority is now Governor Youngkin appointees, but Deeds said the General Assembly still has jurisdiction over budgets.

“Candidly, the state’s share of the UVA budget is very small, but it’s still significant, and there are visitors who have to be approved.”

Deeds said he’s still trying to get to the bottom of the decision-making process now at UVA.

“I wrote a letter… that’s almost two weeks old now with a lot of questions for the Board of Visitors and I’m still waiting for an answer,” Deeds said.

Click here for a report on that letter.