The University of Virginia Must Fire Larry Sabato
The Once-"Non-Partisan" Political Analyst at Virginia's Top Public University Now Accuses Supporters of GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Glenn Youngkin of Being White Supremacists.
I know Larry Sabato. Make that; I thought that I knew Larry Sabato.
A few years ago, and I can’t remember the occasion, long having deleted my personal Twitter account, I suggested on that social medium that he was less than fair in his analysis of a particular political campaign. I mentioned that he once worked for Virginia’s (then) most liberal governor, Democrat Henry Howell (who was right about Dominion Energy, by the way).
He took GREAT umbrage, and we would civilize things by basically agreeing to disagree.
My, how things change.
Sabato, 69, established and still directs the Center for Politics at the Univerisity of Virginia, the Commonwealth’s leading publicly-funded university and a nationally-ranked school. Both UVA and Sabato’s Center for Politics is a rousing success, by any standards. Except that since Donald Trump’s election, Sabato has exhibited all the advanced stages of not only Trump Derangement Syndrome but wokeness. Proof:
Sabato lied. I disclosed the proof on my blog site from several sources just a few days ago. Worse, Critical Race Theory was introduced in Virginia during McAuliffe’s administration. You might think a UVA politically sophisticated professor who openly supports McAuliffe might know that. This is public information. It could be that he doesn’t understand what he professes—not buying that.
I am personally delighted that neither of my children studied under Sabato. Their schools (Bucknell, Elon) have their issues, but nothing like this. And nothing I say detrimental of Sabato should reflect on the otherwise excellent team assembled at the Center for Politics, including Kyle Kondick, who by all measures lives up to Sabato’s original mission.
The question for me is, why is the deeply partisan and highly woke Larry Sabato still officially connected to the very public and supposedly non-partisan University of Virginia?
I can’t find any policies on the internet regarding the regulation of partisan political activities of professors and employees at the University of Virginia. And while state employees should, of course, be allowed to express their political viewpoints personally and support the candidates of their choice, they should NOT be allowed to use public resources or their affiliation with the University of Virginia to express views in support of or opposition to, or to characterize supporters of candidates in a derogatory way. You know, like suggesting they are racist crackers.
If Larry Sabato had integrity, he would resign. Since his massive ego doesn’t allow him, he should be fired. Perhaps future Governor Glenn Youngkin will appoint UVA regents who will arrange that. It is long overdue.
I agree with you Kelly. Larry was always one of those academics who could be counted on to be fair, but in recent years he started to lean partisan. He was always the level headed commenter on the Democrats campaign finance schemes to rig the system in their favor. And he could be relied upon to give unbiased views on political contests. I worked with him quite a bit when I was at NRCC and later when I ran NABPAC and was the spokesperson for the business community on CFR. A few years ago I noticed a leftward change in his leanings and analysts. I wasn’t aware of how strong that trend was until I read your piece today. Thanks for the update and for revealing how pronounced it has become.
Thank you so much for your writings, I'm so glad to have found you on The Arena. The polls closed a half hour ago, and my thoughts and prayers are with you and all Virginians!