State Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, and Charles Stimson, the rector of the George Mason Board of Visitors, disagree on whether the board’s executive committee can meet and take actions this week.
“It has come to the attention of Senator Lucas and myself that you have called a George Mason University Board of Visitors Executive Committee for October 15,” Surovell wrote to Stimson last week.
Surovell asked Stimson to confirm that he agrees the “GMU BOV currently has no quorum to take actions” and to confirm that “in the absence of a functioning quorum for the BOV that the Executive Committee has no authority to meet or take any actions.”
The GMU board currently only has six of the 16 board positions filled after Senate Democrats blocked several of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointments. Eight members are required to constitute a quorum at GMU.
Stimson responded to Surovell by sharing the agenda items and citing university bylaws.
“The Board’s duties include a steady stream of noncontroversial but important business that we must transact to keep the University functioning and thriving,” he wrote.
“At the upcoming meeting, we plan to officially approve the University’s efforts to reorganize one academic department and rename another after a generous donor,” Stimson continued. “We also plan to formally approve the elections of newly tenured and emeritus faculty, and establish a corporate structure through which the University’s cutting-edge Fuse Center can attract additional financial support, in particular for classified programs.”
Stimson cited Article IV, Section 5 of GMU’s bylaws, which state, “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,” and Article V, Section 2(c), which states, “The Executive Committee shall be empowered to transact the business of the University in the recess of the Board.”
Stimson also cited state law, which allows the board to “appoint an executive committee for the transaction of business in the recess of the board, consisting of at least three and not more than five members, to serve for a period of one year or until the next regular annual meeting.”
Surovell disagrees with Stimson’s logic for the meeting.
“The Code of Virginia does not authorize the executive committee to act when the Board of Visitors itself is legally incapable of acting because it doesn’t have sufficient members,” Surovell said in an interview with Virginia Scope. “Their bylaws can say whatever their bylaws say, but they’re governed by Virginia law first.”
Surovell also said that the agenda items listed by Stimson do not appear to be urgent.
“My understanding is that the only thing that they have to do that could really be really problematic would be they have to approve tuition every year,” Surovell said. “That doesn’t happen until April.”
Youngkin could make new appointments to the university but he and the Senate Democrats are currently in a stand off.
A Fairfax Circuit Court affirmed the Senate Democrats’ power to block appointments this summer, but Attorney General Jason Miyares filed an appeal with the Virginia Supreme Court.
The Youngkin administration is arguing that the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee lacks the authority to block his appointments — which it has done multiple times this year at special meetings — and that the full General Assembly needs to convene to strike down the appointments.
Surovell said the appeal is preventing Youngkin from filling these vacant board seats.
“The governor could appoint new people any day if he wants,” Surovell stated to Virginia Scope. “He just doesn’t want to do it because it probably means the end of his appeal.”
Stimson, in his response to Surovell, indicated that the executive committee still plans to meet on Oct. 15.
“As in the past when the Board has lacked a quorum, the Executive Committee fully intends to carry forth the necessary business of the University,” he wrote. “The University community deserves no less. We are committed to fulfilling our fiduciary duties and keep George Mason University positioned to lead and excel as a crown jewel of the Commonwealth and one of the nation’s preeminent academic institutions.”
Last month, Virginia’s Education Secretary Aimee Guidera sent a letter to Virginia’s universities instructing them to ignore communications from Senate Democrats.
The instruction from Guidera was in response to a letter from Surovell, Senate Pro Tempore Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, sent to George Mason University, Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia telling them not to recognize the board appointees that the Senate Privileges and Elections committee recently rejected.
Guidera, in her response to the senators, informed them that she advised the rectors to ignore what they wrote.
“You should be ashamed of the letters you sent on September 9, 2025, which amount to no less than attempts to grind operation of our institutions of higher education to a halt through bullying, intimidation, and harassment of board members,” Guidera wrote.
Surovell turned it back on Guidera, accusing her and Youngkin of intimidating Virginia’s colleges and universities.
“The governor, Ms. Guidera and her staff have been inappropriately intimidating and interfering with our independent Boards of Visitors for three and a half years unlike any administration in Virginia’s history,” Surovell said at the time. “I’m not surprised she’s mad we’re protecting our first class schools from her bullying.”
The Virginia Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments between Senate Democrats and the Youngkin administration on Oct. 30.