(Sam Douglas / Fourth Estate)

Choice to hold virtual meeting without a quorum causes stir

BY SAM DOUGLAS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Mason’s Board of Visitors met virtually last week in a meeting of the Board’s executive committee without a quorum. 

With Mason’s BOV consisting of only six members since late August — two members short of the eight required for a quorum outlined in their bylaws — the Oct. 15 committee meeting was the first official meeting since an Academic Affairs Committee meeting on Sept. 10 and a full board meeting on Aug. 1.

After the expiration of several visitors’ terms at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year — as well as the departure of former Visitor Lindsey Burke to become Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Programs at the U.S. Department of Education — it fell on Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to nominate replacements to the Board. 

His nominations were blocked by Democrats in the Senate of Virginia’s Privileges and Elections Committee, sparking an ongoing battle in the Virginia Supreme Court between state Democrats and Va. Attorney General Jason Miyares.

Ten nominees have been rejected by the Privileges and Elections Committee to date. Four of them (Charles Cooper, William Hansen, Caren Merrick and Maureen Ohlhausen) had been present at meetings during the spring 2025 semester but their nomination was blocked during the summer, leaving them absent due to an injunction since then. 

The other six (Preston Cooper, Jeff Dinwoodie, Bobbie Kilberg, Will Moschella, Sarah Parshall Perry and Harold Pyon) were present at the Aug. 1 meeting but blocked by the Committee afterwards.

With the BOV down to six Visitors, the scheduled Sept. 25 full board meeting was postponed. The choice to hold a committee meeting without the required quorum has sparked outcry from various Mason organizations. 

In a statement on Oct. 18, George Mason NAACP condemned the decision to hold the meeting. 

“By choosing to proceed without full representation, Mason’s leadership has weakened public confidence and sidelined the very students the university claims to serve. This act was egregious and inappropriate as it prioritizes convenience over community, exclusion over inclusion, and undermines the integrity of our university’s governance,” part of the statement read.

“Mason’s BOV has NO QUORUM, yet Rector [Cully] Stimson has called an illegit [sic] BOV meeting to let [Antonin] Scalia Law [School] raise more dark money with less oversight,” read a statement posted on Instagram by the GMU chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

During the meeting, Rector Cully Stimson maintained the Board’s right to hold the meeting, citing Article IV Section 5 of the BOV’s bylaws which states, “When in the judgment of the Rector, Board action is likely to be required, a call shall be issued simultaneously for both a special Board meeting and an Executive Committee meeting with notice to all members of the Board. Should a quorum of the Board fail to be present, the Executive Committee shall be convened.”

“As Rector, I have determined that Board action is required at this time to transact the critically important business of the university,” said Stimson, who has weathered calls from Democrats in the Senate of Virginia to recuse himself due to his ties to the right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation. 

Discussed during the committee meeting was an affiliation agreement with a new Antonin Scalia Law School fundraising foundation approved during the Aug. 1 meeting, as well as the formation of a nonprofit research corporation called PatriotLabs for contracts and classified work from the recently renamed Department of War.

Both of those topics will be discussed further and voted on at the next full board meeting, which is scheduled for Dec. 4.