The Virginia General Assembly advanced legislation that would restrict governing boards from disciplining or censoring expression based on viewpoint and would require trustees to adopt shared‑governance policies. Lawmakers from both chambers passed competing versions and entered talks to reconcile differences; Senate language would also mandate trustee policies to define shared governance and ban disciplinary threats tied to faculty speech. The bill changes how trustees are appointed to an advisory commission and aims to insulate campus decision‑making from partisan pressures after public controversies at flagship universities. Clarification: “Shared governance” is the principle that faculty, students and trustees collaborate on academic and institutional decisions.