‘If DEI Is Dead, What Remains?’

March 10, 2025 Editor, The News-Gazette: The recent decision by the Virginia Military Institute board of visitors to remove retired Army Major General Cedric T. Wins, the first Black superintendent of the institution, is deeply troubling. This move follows a period of meaningful diversity efforts at VMI, which began after a 2021 state-sanctioned report exposed institutional racism and sexism. Wins’ removal comes on the heels of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointments to the board of visitors and a disturbing statement made by Martin D. Brown, Youngkin’s appointed chief diversity officer of the commonwealth.