Unfounded Attacks Should Not Tarnish Board of Visitors Appointment Processes

Despite the misguided attacks against his appointment, Bert Ellis deserves his position on the University of Virginia Board of Visitors. Ellis has a demonstrated history of successful business operation and gratitude for the University we call our own. If a new member of this committee were appointed by the previous Governor, the majority of students would ignorantly continue on with their disinterest in Board of Visitors proceedings, sheltered by the guarantee of a Democrat appointee. But it has become customary in recent years for the Leftist machine to demonize, discredit, and disavow any appointments made by members of the Republican Party. 

As I walk through Grounds or view the Instagram feeds of student organizations, I am awestruck by the amount of unfounded claims against Bert Ellis. The typical form-letter style statements that outline the horrors of the 2017 “Unite the Right Rally” in Charlotteville attempt to connect Ellis to the bands of white supremacists that took to the streets five years ago. Just last year, the same event was cited and used as ammunition against then-Gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin, effectively claiming his endorsement by Donald Trump proved his association to some sort of phantom racism. Ellis has now fallen victim to the same unimaginative criticisms. 

Bert Ellis completed his undergraduate degree in 1975 and later graduated from the Darden School of Business in 1979. Due to his high-ranking involvement in several student organizations, Ellis was awarded a Lawn Room his fourth year at the University of Virginia. Following his time here, Ellis became a successful businessman in the spheres of broadcasting, communications, and biomedical technologies. His ability to act as a successful leader has been galvanized by his decades of professional work.

Ellis now leads The Jefferson Council, one of the only organizations that remains fully invested in the preservation of Thomas Jefferson’s legacy as the great statesman, citizen, and champion of education he was. But students, faculty, and community members interested in deplatforming Ellis are not concerned with his leadership abilities— the principle rationale for his appointment by Governor Youngkin. They are instead concerned with the speakers Bert Ellis assisted in inviting to the University of Virginia in the 1970s. 

In 1975, physicist and inventor Dr. William Shockley was invited to speak at the University. Shockley was renowned in the physics field for his development of point-contact transistors, earning him a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956. Born in 1910, Shockley attended Stanford University in the midst of routine eugenics-based teaching in most higher education institutions. Shockley adopted the belief of white supremacy as a result of this education. 

Given this, I suggest all people with a smartphone dispose of it immediately! How could these bigots utilize point-contact transistors? They were invented by a racist!

In any case, Shockley did visit the University in 1975 and did express his eugenicist tendencies in a debate. These beliefs were leveled by the argument of Richard Goldsby, an anti-eugenics advocate, who handily defeated Shockley in a debate questioning the legitimacy of racial superiority. William Shockley lost and reason won. But these facts garner no reaction from the left. They continue unabashedly in their attacks against Mr. Ellis, just as they do against the legacy of Thomas Jefferson. 

The Democratic party of “tolerance” and “acceptance” was swift in their vandalism of the September 11^th memorial at the Amphitheater last year upon receiving word it was a Young Americans for Freedom-organized event. Posters advertising an event last October, “In Defense of Mr. Jefferson”, which was planned to discuss this University’s own founder, were defiled, ripped from walls, and discarded. Posters notifying the University community of an upcoming lecture by former Vice President Mike Pence fell victim to the same treatment. Immature and irrational responses to dissenting opinions are nothing novel to Leftists associated with public institutions. It is a sad reality that these responses have tarnished the operations of Board of Visitors appointments. 

A University is a business that commoditizes the tool of education. A stonemason relies on his trowel just as a blacksmith depends on his hammer. We rely on education as our tool. This tool must remain unblemished and unswayed by blatant smears at our appointed administrators. Bert Ellis has demonstrated his ability to operate a business and is among the few remaining associates of the University with the spine to defend our Founder, despite his flaws. 

The role of the Board of Visitors has been distorted by the plethora of attack pieces directed at Ellis. Our Sacred Honor system is entrusted into the Board’s care, as well as the upkeep of University traditions. Its duties do not include directing how students and faculty should think and act. With or without Bert Ellis, the University of Virginia will continue its undignified dissent into Leftism and lies. So why should the Board of Visitors’ duties be neglected simply because the political affiliations of the appointee and appointer do not fit the narrative of “diversity, equity, and inclusion”? A so-called philosophy that is so routinely preached here, yet so shallowly defined. 

I seriously doubt any Board of Visitor appointee of any other political affiliation, under this amount of public scrutiny, would willingly meet with students at one of the most frequented restaurants in Charlottesville. Bert Ellis did this Tuesday night, and if able to weather the storm of blind anger from the Left, Mr. Ellis will accomplish much more for us over his four year term. Find a Democratic appointee that is willing to spend time with the students they govern just as Ellis is. Find a Democratic appointee that cares enough about the University to actually meet with students and listen to their concerns. Their worries about mandates, one-sidedness, dining options, or tuition hikes. Until then, I look forward to the renewed fostering of Thomas Jefferson’s ideals of humanity, education, and progress with Bert Ellis at the forefront.

The opinions expressed within this piece represent the views of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jefferson Independent.