Under pressure from the US Department of Justice, which pushed for the University of Virginia’s president’s resignation as president as a result of federal law’s discriminatory practices were investigated.
University President James Ryan announced his resignation in an email sent to the university community on Friday and shared on social media to prevent the institution from receiving the government’s ire.
In order to save my own job, he wrote, “I cannot unilaterally choose to fight the federal government.”
To do so would “not only be quixotic but also come across selfish and self-centered to the hundreds of employees who would lose their jobs, the researchers who would lose their funding, the hundreds of students who could lose financial aid or have their visas withheld,” he said.
Two sources told The New York Times, which first reported the story, that Ryan’s resignation has been accepted by the board. He will leave his post at this point, but it’s not yet clear when.
His departure is the most recent sign of growing tensions between President Donald Trump’s administration and the academic community.
President Trump has increasingly sought to reform higher education during his second term by challenging diversity initiatives, calling for sanctions against pro-Palestinian student protesters, and reviving hiring and enrollment practices.
Ryan’s departure marks a new frontier in a campaign that almost exclusively targets Ivy League institutions. Critics claim that it reflects a shift in the government’s rationale, shifting away from campus-wide allegations of rampant anti-Semitism to more aggressive policing of diversity initiatives.
The Justice Department made the announcement that another public school, the University of California, would be subject to a diversity standards investigation just one day prior.
Ryan, who has been in charge of the University of Virginia since 2018, was criticized for not complying with federal law’s DEI policies.
The Justice Department pushed his removal, according to an anonymous source, to expedite the resolution of an investigation involving the school.
Ryan’s ouster, according to Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, is an illustration of how the Trump administration uses “thuggery instead of rational discourse.”
More of the same is promised by Mitchell, who stated, “This is a dark day for the University of Virginia, a dark day for higher education.” The administration obviously has no plans to do so and will use all available means to exert its will over higher education.
Democratic senators in Virginia react
Virginia’s senators, both Democrats, called it outrageous in a joint statement that the Trump administration had demanded Ryan’s resignation for “culture war” traps.
Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner both claimed, “This is a mistake that threatens Virginia’s future.”
Trump signed an executive order in January calling for the end of federal funding for educational institutions with DEI programming after campaigning on a promise to end “wokeness” in education.
He claimed that without the parents’ consent, schools “indoctrinated” “children in radical, anti-American ideologies.”
Since then, the Department of Education has opened inquiries into dozens of colleges, alleging that diversity initiatives discriminate against students from white and Asian descent.
Schools have responded in a dispersed manner. Some organizations no longer require diversity statements when hiring, and some have shut down DEI offices. Still, other countries have continued to support diversity policies.
After conservative backers claimed the University of Virginia had changed its name, it quickly gained traction. In March, the school’s governing body decided to end diversity policies for admissions, hiring, financial aid, and other areas.
Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin praised the move, saying, “DEI is done at the University of Virginia.”
However, DEI was merely a new form of education, according to America First Legal, a conservative organization that was founded by Trump’s adviser Stephen Miller. The organization claimed in a letter to the Justice Department in May that the university had chosen to “rename, repackage, and redeploy the same unlawful infrastructure under a lexicon of euphemisms.”
Ryan joined hundreds of other college presidents in signing a statement outright condemning the Trump administration’s “overreach and political interference,” according to the group.
The organization stated on Friday that it will continue to make use of any and all available means to eradicate what it has termed discriminatory systems.
The group’s attorney, Megan Redshaw, stated in a statement that “public universities that accept federal funds do not have a license to violate the Constitution.” They are not permitted to defy lawful executive authority, impose race and sex-based preferences, or impose ideological loyalty tests.
The White House had focused its attention on Harvard University and other prestigious institutions, which Trump views as liberalism’s epicenter, for the most part.
In its legal battle with the government, which threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status and tried to stop Harvard from hosting foreign students, it has lost more than $2.6 billion in federal research grants.
Harvard and its $53 billion endowment are uniquely positioned to withstand the government’s financial strain.
