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VMI alumni push to reverse diversity reforms, invoking critical race theory

One White alumnus launched a petition drive and another filed a lawsuit to stop VMI’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives

By Ian Shapira
Today at 7:00 a.m. EDT



The barracks at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va., in 2020. (Steve Helber/AP)

Conservative Virginia Military Institute alumni are using a petition drive and a lawsuit to challenge diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the nation’s oldest state-supported military college, ignoring the priorities of VMI’s first Black superintendent.

Though VMI’s leader, retired Army Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins, has been increasingly vocal about the need for diversity initiatives, a network of older, White alumni upset with the school’s reforms is ratcheting up their attacks on the college’s new agenda. The group — irate over a state-ordered investigation last year that concluded the college suffered from a “racist and sexist culture” — appears emboldened by the election of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who banned teaching “critical race theory" in K-12 schools and purged the word “equity” from Virginia’s education system.

[VMI’s first Black superintendent blasts White critics of diversity and equity reform]

The disgruntled alumni are homing in on a specific target: NewPoint Strategies, a Northern Virginia consulting firm whose clients have included the Defense Department, Fortune 500 companies, federal government agencies, universities and nonprofits. ... In late February, VMI notified NewPoint Strategies of its intent to award it a contract to provide diversity, equity and inclusion training to the college’s faculty, staff and students. The firm’s proposed price is about $100,000. The contract would last from the date of the actual award to June 2023, with four optional one-year renewals. ... In its request for proposals, VMI said the winning applicant must “provide opportunities for individuals to embrace DEI concepts, explore allyship, and a framework for lifelong learning.” The college also said the firm “must be able to discuss cultural and identity oppression in the context of current culture as it relates to VMI.”

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The first attack on the contract came in March from Carmen D. Villani Jr., a White member of the Class of 1976 and frequent public critic of the college’s direction. Villani circulated a petition online calling for Virginia’s new attorney general Jason Miyares (R) to halt the NewPoint Strategies contract or any similar contracts at the school. The petition also asks Miyares to stop the college’s implementation of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives until the “appropriate” state agency conducts a “full investigation” to determine whether critical race theory — an academic framework that examines systemic racism in America — or other “divisive training” are occurring at VMI.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=767

Virginia Military Institute Superintendent Cedric T. Wins addresses the class of 2021 during a ceremony at the school in Lexington, Va., last year. (Parker Michels-Boyce for The Washington Post)

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By Ian Shapira
Ian Shapira is a features writer on the local enterprise team. Twitter https://twitter.com/ianshapira