University of Virginia President James E. Ryan has agreed to step down following pressure from the Trump administration, which made his resignation a condition for ending a Justice Department investigation into the university’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices, according to The New York Times.
Sources familiar with the matter said Ryan informed UVA’s board of visitors on Thursday that he would resign. In a letter to the board chair, Ryan wrote that although he originally planned to remain until the end of the next academic year, he had made the “deeply sad” decision to leave earlier “given the circumstances and today’s conversations.” The board accepted his resignation, though an official departure date has not yet been announced.
The resignation follows a Justice Department probe that accused the university of “widespread” reliance on race in admissions and other programs. In a June 17 letter, Civil Rights Division head Harmeet K. Dhillon and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gregory W. Brown warned UVA officials that the department’s patience was “wearing thin.” Notably, both Dhillon and Brown are UVA alumni, and Brown has previously sued the university over similar issues.
According to The Times, federal officials told UVA board members—many of whom were appointed by Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin—that resolving the investigation would require Ryan’s departure.
The move underscores President Donald Trump’s renewed push against DEI initiatives in higher education. “For the leader of one of the nation’s most prominent public universities to take such an extraordinary step demonstrates President Trump’s success in harnessing the investigative powers of the federal government to accomplish his administration’s policy goals,” The Times reported.
Virginia’s Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine sharply criticized the development in a joint statement:
“It is outrageous that officials in the Trump Department of Justice demanded the Commonwealth’s globally recognized university remove President Ryan—a strong leader who has served UVA honorably and moved the university forward—over ridiculous ‘culture war’ traps.
Decisions about UVA’s leadership belong solely to its Board of Visitors, in keeping with Virginia’s well-established and respected system of higher education governance. This is a mistake that hurts Virginia’s future.”
Ryan’s departure marks one of the most high-profile leadership changes in higher education tied to the national debate over diversity initiatives and the federal government’s growing role in shaping campus policies under Trump’s second term.
