An Opportune Moment for the Restoration of the Virginia Military Institute

Joseph D. Elie '88

You might consider it hyperbolic to assert that a significant event in the struggle for the survival of Western civilization occurred in Lexington, Virginia recently when the Board of Visitors of the Virginia Military Institute voted not to extend the contract of Superintendent Major General Cedric T. Wins ‘85 - but there are no small victories in matters of such import. Like the United States itself, the Institute requires a restoration of its founding principles rather than continuing the wrong-headed, politically correct renovation it has been enduring for the past four years. An austere bulwark of excellence on the high bluff above the Maury, VMI was once recognized around the world for instilling virtue rather than mere virtue-signaling. A sense of urgency is now required to make the most of what we can do with this pivotal moment. As we have recently celebrated the 250th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord that burgeoned into the American Revolution, we should be aware that the fight for freedom today is no less tenuous as it was then. Will the Republic endure another 250 years? What role will VMI play in answering that question? It’s no exaggeration that the outcome at least partially rests on who will be selected as VMI’s 16th superintendent this summer.

For the past three decades, VMI and the nation-at-large have been under continual attack by cultural Marxists, tearing at the tapestry of our traditional values and common identity, striking at the heart of our once unified society and its underpinnings, and propagandizing their targets using oppressor vs. oppressed dogma. Historical figures like Columbus, Washington, Jefferson, Lee, Jackson, and the New Market cadets are all in their sights. They unreasonably view the past through today’s lens in order to engage in historical revisionism, too often using fear, intimidation, and violence to achieve their wicked ends. Divorce a culture from its heroes, and it can more easily be reconceived.

For more than four years, the Institute has been quite obviously sliding down the slippery slope of destructive change for the sake of change, most egregiously under the guise of the anti-Western stratagem Critical Race Theory (CRT). In 2021, Virginia ordered VMI to adopt programs influenced by CRT. VMI is probably one of the finest examples of a leadership laboratory based entirely on a meritocracy. The corrosive theories associated with CRT have damaged the bedrocks of that leadership laboratory: the Honor System, the Class System, the Regimental System, and the Rat Line. Superintendent Wins was chosen to oversee these controversial and unpopular changes. Today, with the imminent selection of a new superintendent, we have the opportunity to right those wrongs.

Deserving the lion’s share of credit for empowering the current movement for the preservation of VMI is the student-run newspaper, The Cadet. The newspaper staff constitute the conscience of the cadet corps and have sounded the clarion call of a whistleblower. The Cadet’s editorials have detailed all of the issues at the granular level, and the newspaper should be recognized for urging a return to normalcy at the Institute in the form of traditional modes and methods of instruction. Reporting from the front lines of the turmoil, the newspaper has been a guiding light in the tempest.

There exists a Silent Majority among our alumni, deeply aggrieved by what has transpired at a place where they learned so many invaluable lessons about themselves and human nature. They must find their voice for the sake of their alma mater. Accordingly, The Spirit of VMI PAC urges alumni, family, and friends to vote for, and contribute to, candidates who will fight for the traditional roles of the honor code, regimental system, class system, academics, and athletics of VMI; and celebrate all of its history of notable contributions to Virginia and the United States.

At its best, politics is the art of how groups of people make decisions about their collective future. At its worst, politics can be hijacked by those who do not have the best interests of the public at heart and abuse the citizenry with tragic consequences. In this age of political polarization, and if the progressive forces continue to control the General Assembly and win the governor’s office, the future of the Institute will remain uncertain. VMI cannot expect to chart its own course when the cultural Marxists control the State Capitol. Much will be depending on the results of this year’s elections since post secondary public education in Virginia has devolved into a contest over which party can gain majorities on each Board of Visitors, a reflection of the political machinations in Richmond. The recent national elections show that the majority of Americans have doubts about the progressive agenda and most of the country is trending in the right direction, but Northern Virginia remains problematic; and VMI’s future hangs in the balance.

VMI needs a superintendent steeped in the Old Corps, an alumnus who will not only not disown the past but champion how his character was forged on post - by design - under the most challenging of circumstances. He will have to be prepared to stand up to those in Richmond who do not understand the value of VMI and simultaneously retain the confidence of a majority of the Board of Visitors. Above all else he should be committed to the highest ethical, educational, disciplinary, and physical fitness standards to ensure VMI continues to produce the finest Citizen Soldiers for the 21st century.