By Lucy Spence
Fallout continues in wake of the news that University of Virginia President James Ryan will be stepping down from his role as President Donald Trump鈥檚 Department of Justice investigates the university鈥檚 diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, practices.
Trump issued an executive order earlier this year telling federally funded entities to shut down DEI programs or they would face the termination of those funds. UVA allegedly kept its programs, instead renaming them in an effort to conceal them, which led to an investigation by the Department of Justice.
Reactions to Ryan鈥檚 announcement have been mixed.
Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation鈥檚 Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, told The Daily Signal, 鈥淭his is an important victory in Trump鈥檚 crusade to recapture control of our universities. UVA is an important school, and Harvard is an important school, and I believe Trump is going to win with Harvard as well.鈥
Frederick Hess, senior fellow and Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, posted about the matter on X.
Hess wrote: 鈥淎s one who was bullied out of the University of Virginia 23 years ago, I find this a very personal dispute. 鈥 While I have not been privy to the private exchanges between DOJ and UVA (and may revise my opinion if additional information surfaces), I find it deeply troubling that the DOJ appears to have conditioned access to federal funds on Ryan鈥檚 resignation.鈥
Ryan released a statement on June 27 announcing his decision. Though he wrote that he made the decision 鈥渨ith a very heavy heart,鈥 the president stated that he would not let his personal concerns in the matter endanger hundreds of employees, researchers, and students at the university who, he wrote, would lose their jobs, funding, and visas were he to remain president at UVA.
The resignation has placed Trump鈥檚 battle with higher education in the spotlight once more. Though Ryan never mentioned DEI concerns or the investigation by the DOJ explicitly, his resignation letter, arriving in the wake of a DOJ investigation, referred to his decision not to 鈥渇ight the federal government.鈥
The Trump administration鈥檚 dismantling of DEI at universities began when it pulled billions of dollars from Harvard鈥檚 funding. According to a New York Times report on Thursday, the administration had communicated privately with UVA in the last month with similar threats if Ryan refused to resign.
The U.S. Department of Education launched investigations in March of DEI practices at universities that allegedly violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin at any federally funded institution. The department named over 50 institutions, including other elite universities like Yale, Cornell, Duke, Notre Dame, Georgetown, and MIT.
The DOJ issued a letter to Ryan and board Rector Robert Hardie on April 28 demanding a report from the university on its 鈥渄issolution and dismantling of DEI鈥 practices. The letter referenced two previous documents, sent April 11 and 18, that had requested the same thing and went unanswered by the school.
The Daily Signal reached out to Ryan and UVA鈥檚 board of visitors for comment but did not receive one as of publication time.