{"id":20575,"date":"2025-06-28T01:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T01:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/20575\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T01:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T01:43:10","slug":"uva-president-resigns-under-administration-pressure-over-dei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/20575\/","title":{"rendered":"UVA president resigns under administration pressure over DEI"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The president of the University of Virginia, facing heavy pressure from conservative critics and the Trump administration over the school\u2019s diversity, equity and inclusion practices<\/a>, announced Friday that he was resigning rather than \u201cfight the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n

The departure of James Ryan, who had led the school since 2018, represents a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration\u2019s effort to reshape higher education<\/a>. Doing it at a public university marks a new frontier in a campaign that has almost exclusively targeted Ivy League schools<\/a>. It also widens the rationale behind the government\u2019s aggressive tactics, focusing on DEI rather than alleged tolerance of antisemitism.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n

The Rotunda is shown at the University of Virginia on March 1, 2024, in Charlottesville, Va. (AP Photo\/Peter Morgan, File)<\/p>\n

The Rotunda is shown at the University of Virginia on March 1, 2024, in Charlottesville, Va. (AP Photo\/Peter Morgan, File)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Ryan had faced conservative criticism that he failed to heed federal orders to eliminate DEI policies<\/a>, and his removal was pushed for by the Justice Department as it investigated the school, according to a person who was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Ryan referenced the Trump administration pressure in a statement to the university community Friday in which he said he had submitted his resignation with a \u201cvery heavy heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo make a long story short, I am inclined to fight for what I believe in, and I believe deeply in this University,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I cannot make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan had already decided that next year would be his last, he said, and remaining in his position until then would be \u201cknowingly and willingly sacrificing this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New York Times first reported on the resignation and the Justice Department\u2019s insistence on it.<\/p>\n

In a CNN appearance Friday, the Justice Department\u2019s assistant attorney general for civil rights denied that Ryan\u2019s removal was an explicit demand but said the agency \u201csignificantly lacked confidence\u201d in his leadership. \u201cI don\u2019t have any confidence that he was going to be willing and able to preside over the dismantling of DEI,\u201d Harmeet Dhillon said.<\/p>\n

Ryan\u2019s removal is another example of the Trump administration using \u201cthuggery instead of rational discourse,\u201d said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, which represents university presidents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a dark day for the University of Virginia, a dark day for higher education, and it promises more of the same,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cIt\u2019s clear the administration is not done and will use every tool that it can make or invent to exert its will over higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Virginia\u2019s Democratic senators react<\/p>\n

In a joint statement, Virginia\u2019s Democratic senators said it was outrageous that the Trump administration would demand Ryan\u2019s resignation over \u201c\u2018culture war\u2019 traps.\u201d \u201cThis is a mistake that hurts Virginia\u2019s future,\u201d Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine said.<\/p>\n

After campaigning on a promise to end \u201cwokeness\u201d<\/a> in education, Trump signed a January action ordering the elimination of DEI programs<\/a> nationwide. The Education Department has opened investigations into dozens of colleges<\/a>, arguing that diversity initiatives discriminate against white and Asian American students.<\/p>\n

The response from schools has been scattered. Some have closed DEI offices<\/a>, ended diversity scholarships and no longer require diversity statements as part of the hiring process. Some others have rebranded DEI work under other names, while some have held firm on diversity policies.<\/p>\n

The University of Virginia became a flashpoint after conservative critics accused it of simply renaming its DEI initiatives. The school\u2019s governing body voted to shutter the DEI office in March and end diversity policies in admissions, hiring, financial aid and other areas. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin celebrated the action, declaring that \u201cDEI is done at the University of Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those drawing attention to the Charlottesville campus was America First Legal, a conservative group founded by Trump aide Stephen Miller. In a May letter to the Justice Department, the group said the university failed to dismantle DEI programs and chose to \u201crename, repackage, and redeploy the same unlawful infrastructure under a lexicon of euphemisms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group directly took aim at Ryan, noting that he joined hundreds of other college presidents in signing a public statement condemning the \u201coverreach and political interference\u201d of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the group said it will continue to use every available tool to root out what it has called discriminatory systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis week\u2019s developments make clear: public universities that accept federal funds do not have a license to violate the Constitution,\u201d Megan Redshaw, an attorney at the group, said in a statement. \u201cThey do not get to impose ideological loyalty tests, enforce race and sex-based preferences, or defy lawful executive authority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan has been leading the school since 2018<\/p>\n

Ryan was hired to lead the University of Virginia in 2018 and previously served as the dean of Harvard University\u2019s Graduate School of Education. Earlier in his career he spent more than a decade as a law professor at the University of Virginia. A biography on Harvard\u2019s website credits Ryan with increasing the \u201csize, strength and diversity\u201d of the faculty, adding that building a diverse community was a priority.<\/p>\n

Robert D. Hardie, leader of the University of Virginia\u2019s governing board, said he accepted Ryan\u2019s resignation with \u201cprofound sadness,\u201d adding that the university \u201chas forever been changed for the better as a result of Jim\u2019s exceptional leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until now, the White House had directed most of its attention at Harvard University and other elite institutions that Trump sees as bastions of liberalism. Harvard has lost more than $2.6 billion<\/a> in federal research grants<\/a> amid its battle with the government, which has also attempted to block the school from hosting foreign students<\/a> and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status.<\/p>\n

Harvard and its $53 billion endowment are uniquely positioned to weather the government\u2019s financial pressure. Public universities, however, are far more dependent on taxpayer money and could be more vulnerable. The University of Virginia\u2019s $10 billion endowment is among the largest for public universities, while the vast majority have far less.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press\u2019 education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list<\/a> of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The president of the University of Virginia, facing heavy pressure from conservative critics and the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1578,19122,16720,84,12514,69,407,19121,57,12473,86,19124,51,19120,362,19125,50,80,2068,19126,11203,19123,8131,52,94,61,67,370,18321,906,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-20575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-associated-press","9":"tag-charlottesville","10":"tag-colleges-and-universities","11":"tag-district-of-columbia","12":"tag-diversity","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-education","15":"tag-equity-and-inclusion","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-glenn-youngkin","18":"tag-government-policy","19":"tag-harmeet-dhillon","20":"tag-headlines","21":"tag-james-ryan","22":"tag-legal-proceedings","23":"tag-megan-redshaw","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-politics","26":"tag-race-and-ethnicity","27":"tag-robert-d-hardie","28":"tag-stephen-miller","29":"tag-ted-mitchell","30":"tag-tim-kaine","31":"tag-top-stories","32":"tag-u-s-department-of-justice","33":"tag-u-s-news","34":"tag-united-states","35":"tag-united-states-government","36":"tag-va-state-wire","37":"tag-virginia","38":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}