John Rocovich, the rector of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, was removed Wednesday by Gov. Abigail Spanberger, but he asserted a day later that he will not resign his post and called the governor’s action “deeply offensive” and “legally unsupported.”
In a letter notifying Rocovich of his firing, Spanberger accused him of conduct that violated the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors’ Code of Ethics, the code of conduct for state appointees and governing statutes “requiring board members to act in accordance with the best interest of Virginia Tech.”
The governor’s office did not immediately provide additional information or specifics about the reason for Rocovich’s removal, but Virginia Tech spokesperson Mark Owczarski said in an email that the governor had informed the university of the action. Owczarski had no further comment.
Rocovich responded Thursday with his own letter to Candi Mundon King, the secretary of the commonwealth, whose office, he said, had called him “recently” and asked him to resign. That call was followed by the letter from Spanberger, which he called “deeply offensive, legally unsupported, and wholly inconsistent with the Governor’s own publicly-stated principles regarding the proper relationship between the executive branch and the governance of Virginia’s public universities.”
Under state law, a governor may remove a board member for “malfeasance, misfeasance, incompetence, or gross neglect of duty” and must publicly lay out the specific reasons in a written public statement.
State law also says that “the Governor is the sole judge of the sufficiency of the cause for removal.”
Rocovich argued that “no such grounds” for his removal exist.
“I have committed no malfeasance. I have not been derelict in my duties. I have attended meetings, fulfilled my obligations, and acted at all times in the best interests of Virginia Tech,” he wrote in the three-page letter.
“In the 154-year history of Virginia Tech, dating to its founding in 1872, no Governor of the Commonwealth has ever removed a member of the Board of Visitors for cause.”
Rocovich did not respond to a message left at his Roanoke law office Thursday.
Spanberger also announced Thursday that current board member Edward Baine, president of Dominion Energy, would complete Rocovich’s term, which ends on June 30, 2027. Baine was first appointed to the board by then-Gov. Ralph Northam in 2018 and was reappointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2022.
[Disclosure: Dominion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
Rocovich’s removal comes about a month after Spanberger named four new appointees to the board — and after university President Tim Sands announced his intention to step down.
One of Spanberger’s appointees, Sharon Brickhouse Martin, will immediately fill the remaining open term, which ends June 30, before beginning her full term on July 1.
Though the rest of the recent appointees’ terms don’t begin until July 1, the governor made her appointments in advance of that date because Rocovich “committed to placing her appointees on the university’s presidential search committee,” according to a governor’s office news release at the time — and all were present at the first search committee meeting earlier this month.
“The Governor’s interest in having her appointees participate in this consequential decision is understandable, and I have accommodated it. That accommodation did not require, and does not justify, a demand for my resignation,” Rocovich wrote.
Spanberger’s attempt to remove Rocovich is the next step by the new Democratic administration to reshape the Republican-dominated board, and it comes against the backdrop of college board appointments becoming more politicized in recent years.
When Democrats controlled the legislature during the last two years of Youngkin’s term, they refused to confirm some of his board appointments. When Republicans disputed some procedural aspects of those votes, Democrats sued and won a victory at the circuit court level.
In addition to his argument that he has “not been derelict in [his] duties” and that there are no grounds for his removal, Rocovich also said Spanberger’s request was “not a lawful exercise of executive authority” and it “is precisely the type of gubernatorial interference that candidate Spanberger built her higher education platform on opposing.”
“Governor Spanberger cannot simultaneously condemn political interference in university governance as an ‘aberration’ and then, within months of taking office, direct her Secretary to strong-arm a sitting Rector into vacating a position he holds by lawful appointment,” Rocovich wrote. “That is not reform — that is the same conduct she denounced, merely with a different political beneficiary.”
Spanberger said during the campaign last year that she wanted to take the politics out of such appointments. Early in her term, she asked some of Youngkin’s appointees on the University of Virginia board to resign.
Actually removing a board member is far more unusual. Youngkin removed one of his own appointees from the UVa board in 2025. In 1993, then-Gov. Douglas Wilder asked the entire board of Virginia State University to resign amid financial problems and the arrival of a new president, whom Wilder wanted to have a clean slate. However, all those appointees were either people he had appointed or who had been appointed by a previous governor of the same party.
Over the years, there have also been instances when governors threatened to remove board members but did not. Gerald Baliles did that with the Virginia Tech board in 1986 amid an athletic scandal, and Bob McDonnell did that with the UVa board during leadership turmoil in 2012.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax County, praised the move Thursday.
“I am pleased the governor is going to continue to resolve the Youngkin Board of Visitors hangover and their politicization of our universities,” he said in a text message.
Like Rocovich, nearly all of the current members of Virginia Tech’s 13-person board were appointed by Youngkin.
As of July 1, the board will feature at least five Spanberger appointments.
House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Scott County, demanded an explanation from Spanberger.
“I’ve known John for years, and I know he has done nothing but act in the best interest of Virginia Tech. To suggest otherwise is libelous,” he said in a statement Thursday.
“The Governor owes the Virginia Tech community — and all Virginians — an explanation for this decision. What exactly did John Rocovich do?”
Kilgore applauded Rocovich’s commitment to Virginia Tech and accused Spanberger of removing him for “purely political reasons.”
Rocovich first served on the board from 1997 to 2005 and as rector from 2002 to 2004. He served again from 2010 to 2014 and was appointed by Youngkin to another term in 2023.
In 2025, the board of visitors made an exception to its own bylaws to allow Rocovich to serve a third term as rector — a move that initially had him leading the presidential search.
The rector is the elected chair of the board of visitors. The board’s bylaws limit the number of times a member can serve as rector to two one-year terms. But a lack of nominees for the role and Rocovich’s interest in serving as rector again led to the vote, according to the meeting minutes.
At the time, Baine advised the board that, in voting for Rocovich as rector, the board would also be voting for an exception to the term limits in the bylaws. Rocovich was elected 11-2, with Baine abstaining.
Rocovich, a native of Roanoke and graduate of Virginia Tech, has “made Virginia Tech the central focus of his life,” according to his biography on the board of visitors’ website.
He has served as president of the Virginia Tech Foundation and the Virginia Tech Alumni Foundation. He founded the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine and is the chair of the school’s board of directors. The John G. Rocovich Shooting Sports Complex at the W.E. Skelton 4-H Educational Conference Center was named for him.
Rocovich is active in several Virginia education organizations and statewide commissions and has been a frequent political donor. In 2025, he gave $32,500 to the campaign of Spanberger’s Republican opponent, Winsome Earle-Sears, and another $23,000 to the campaign of Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
The board of visitors is set to next meet on campus in Blacksburg on Monday and Tuesday.
Elizabeth Beyer and Dwayne Yancey contributed information to this report.
