Feb. 13, 2026 Editor, The News-Gazette:
VMI excels in service to Virginia and the nation far out of proportion with its size.
VMI alumni include two previous governors and lieutenant governors of Virginia; secretaries of the Army, State and Defense; a Nobel peace prize winner; 13 Rhodes Scholars; seven Medal of Honor recipients; winners of an Academy Award, an Emmy, the Pulitzer Prize and a Golden Globe; an Episcopal Church martyr; legislators; a Supreme Court justice; numerous college and university presidents; business heads, the current ambassador to the UN and over 285 generals, including the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. VMI employs 680 county residents who earn about $39 million annually, and spent $13 million with local firms in 2025 Del. Dan Helmer doesn’t dispute these facts in his House Bill 1377, but his inflammatory language condemning VMI’s veneration of its history as fixation on the “Lost Cause” shows a clear bias against VMI. His bill actually cites the board of visitors not renewing General Cedric Wins as superintendent as cause to create a task force to determine if VMI has acted to “reduce acts within its student body that could be perceived or classified as racist, sexist or misogynistic, or as an act of sexual harassment or sexual assault.”
VMI under General Wins’ leadership actively addressed those issues raised in 2021; those efforts continue unchanged under General Furness. VMI alumni look forward to a fair and balanced review; we pray that Delegate Helmer’s task force approaches their task as such. SCOTT RISSER VMI Class of 1975 President, Rockbridge Alumni Chapter
