VMI Board Votes No on Extending Wins’ Contract
by James A. Bacon
[This article is republished from Bacon’s Rebellion, viewable here: https://www.baconsrebellion.com/vmi-board-votes-no-on-extending-wins-contract/]
February 28, 2025
The Virginia Military Institute voted 10 to 6 today against extending the contract of Superintendent Cedric T. Wins. His current contract expires June 30. Board members gave no explanation.
Wins has been embroiled in a knock-down, drag-out fight for four years with conservative alumni unhappy with changes he has made to the VMI culture, most notably the purging of the Stonewall Jackson statue and inscriptions from post, the watering down of the Honor Code, and implementation of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
National media are already making Wins’ race an issue. The New York Times headline reads, “The First Black Leader of Virginia Military Institute Is Ousted.”
The Times quoted state Senator Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Prince William, a Black VMI alumna, as saying an interview that the chair of the VMI board of visitors, John D. Adams, told her the board no longer wanted a Black superintendent.
I flat-out don’t believe that, and not just because Adams denied through a spokesman that he ever said such a thing.
I have been conversing with dissident VMI alumni for years, and I have never once heard Wins’ race raised as an issue. Not once.
To the contrary, early in his tenure when Wins was something of a cipher, many alumni expressed hope that he would make a good superintendent and were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But the initial good will dissipated when it became apparent that Wins bought into the proposition, peddled by The Washington Post and former Governor (and VMI alumnus) Ralph Northam, that VMI was a racist and sexist institution. The battle all along has been between traditionalists who want to preserve the Honor Code, the Rat Line, and a history of VMI that acknowledges its roots in the ante-bellum Virginia and those who view those institutions as relics that require overhaul in line with “progressive” values.
DEI became a major flashpoint, but so did what dissident alumni regarded as heavy-handed action by Wins to retaliate against activist alumni and suppress The Cadet, an award-winning student newspaper backed by alumni, which had been critical of the administration.
Don’t expect to read about such nuances in legacy media, which view every issue through a racial prism. And don’t be surprised if the media and certain members of the General Assembly make the Wins decision vote all about race. This story is far from over.
[This article is republished from Bacon’s Rebellion, viewable here: https://www.baconsrebellion.com/vmi-board-votes-no-on-extending-wins-contract/]