University of Virginia president resigns under Trump administration pressure on DEI, AP source says

University of Virginia president, James Ryan speaks during a press conference at the school, Dec 13, 2021, in Charlottesville, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

WASHINGTON — The president of the University of Virginia is resigning his position under pressure from the Justice Department, which had pushed for his departure amid scrutiny of the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.

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

Ryan had faced conservative criticism that he failed to heed federal orders to eliminate DEI policies, and his removal was pushed by the Justice Department as a way to help resolve a department inquiry targeting the school, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the move by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.

The New York Times first reported on the resignation and the Justice Department’s insistence on it. The Justice Department declined to comment Friday.

Ryan’s removal is another example of the Trump administration using “thuggery instead of rational discourse,” said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, which represents university presidents.

“This is a dark day for the University of Virginia, a dark day for higher education, and it promises more of the same,” Mitchell said. “It’s clear the administration is not done and will use every tool that it can make or invent to exert its will over higher education.”

Virginia’s Democratic senators react

In a joint statement, Virginia’s Democratic senators said it was outrageous that the Trump administration would demand Ryan’s resignation over “`culture war’ traps.” “This is a mistake that hurts Virginia’s future,” Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine said.

After campaigning on a promise to end “wokeness” in education, Trump signed a January action ordering the elimination of DEI programs and “radical indoctrination” across the nation’s schools and universities. The Education Department has opened investigations into dozens of colleges, arguing that diversity initiatives discriminate against white and Asian American students.

The response from schools has been scattered. Some have closed DEI offices, 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.

The University of Virginia became a flashpoint after conservative critics accused it of simply renaming its DEI initiatives. The school’s 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 “DEI is done at the University of Virginia.”

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 “rename, repackage, and redeploy the same unlawful infrastructure under a lexicon of euphemisms.”

The group directly took aim at Ryan, noting that he joined hundreds of other college presidents in signing a public statement condemning the “overreach and political interference” of the Trump administration.

Ryan has been leading the school since 2018

Ryan was hired to lead the University of Virginia in 2018 and previously served as the dean of Harvard University’s 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’s website credits Ryan with increasing the “size, strength and diversity” of the faculty, adding that building a diverse community was a priority.

Mitchell, of the presidents’ association, described Ryan as a president who leaves education in Virginia better than when he arrived.

“These have not been easy times, and he has balanced a lot of different constituent interests with delicacy,” Mitchell said.

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 in federal research grants amid its battle with the government, which has also attempted to block the school from hosting foreign students and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status.

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

Eric Tucker and Collin Binkley, The Associated Press