UVA president resigns amid pressure from Trump administration on diversity practices

Note: See the Fall 2025 issue of Virginia Magazine for more in-depth coverage.

UVA President Jim Ryan (Law class of ’92) announced his resignation Friday afternoon, amid growing pressure from Trump administration officials over the university’s response to a Board of Visitors resolution dismantling the office of diversity, equity and inclusion, according to news reports.

That intensifying pressure included the threat of withholding hundreds of millions of federal dollars, according to a report in The New York Times, and appears to stem from a Department of Justice investigation into whether Ryan had sufficiently complied with a March Board of Visitors resolution regarding diversity, equity and inclusion.

In a statement Friday afternoon announcing his resignation, Ryan referenced the potential repercussions had he stayed.

“I cannot make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my own job,” he wrote. “To do so would not only be quixotic but appear selfish and self-centered to the hundreds of employees who would lose their jobs, the researchers who would lose their funding, and the hundreds of students who could lose financial aid or have their visas withheld.”

Outgoing rector Robert Hardie (Col class of ’87, Darden class of ’95) and incoming rector Rachel Sheridan (Col class of ’94, Law class of ’98) wrote in a shared statement Monday that Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer J.J. Wagner Davis will serve as acting president before an interim president is named, who will serve while a search committee conducts a nationwide search for a permanent replacement to recommend to the board.

On March 7, the Board of Visitors passed a resolution citing President Trump’s January executive order “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” The resolution required that the university dissolve its Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Partnerships and transfer “permissible” programs to new organizational homes. The resolution also required Ryan to update the BOV of UVA’s compliance within 30 days. Ryan stated that he would comply in full.

Soon after, boards at colleges and universities across Virginia passed similar resolutions.

On April 28, Harmeet Dhillon (Law class of ’93) and Gregory Brown (Col class of ’89), two UVA alumni who work in the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, sent a letter to Ryan, Hardie and University Counsel Clifton Iler indicating that they had received complaints that UVA may have failed to comply with the March 7 resolution. The letter, reported by The Chronicle of Higher Education in May, demanded that the school produce a large number of materials, some of which go beyond the scope of compliance with the original resolution. The demands included video recordings of BOV open and closed sessions and deliberations; detailed certifications from all UVA divisions regarding any positions with diversity, equity and inclusion responsibilities and whether those staffers were still associated with UVA; and all reports regarding the work outlined in the BOV resolution. The letter set a May 2 deadline for the materials, but that deadline was subsequently delayed, according to someone close to the matter but not authorized to discuss it on the record.

On April 29, a day after the DOJ letter was sent, the BOV convened a special meeting and passed a resolution noting that UVA had made progress on implementing the March 7 resolution. It also rescinded some parts of a resolution passed in September 2020 in support of racial equity initiatives.

According to the reporting in the Times, the DOJ continued to increase pressure on the administration, including demanding Ryan’s resignation.

The pressure is part of a nationwide campaign by federal officials to assert control upon colleges and universities. Many of the targeted universities have been elite private schools; Harvard University and Columbia University have made national news for their battles with the administration. Ryan’s ouster appears to be part of an escalation and broadening of scrutiny on public universities. Last week Dhillon sent a letter to the president of the University of California system indicating that the DOJ was opening an investigation into whether the schools are discriminating on the basis of race through its 2030 Capacity Plan, which seeks to increase enrollment with “the shared goal of serving more Californians and reflecting California’s diversity.”

Ryan’s announcement came during Summer Session at the university, as he was preparing to announce the successful completion of the Honor the Future fundraising campaign. Launched publicly in 2019, the campaign was designed around Ryan’s 2030 Strategic Plan. As of the campaign close on Monday, the university had raised more than $6 billion, exceeding its original goal of $5 billion.

With Ryan’s resignation, none of the top three positions on the university’s organizational chart are permanently filled. Brie Gertler is serving as the interim provost after Ian Baucom left in March to become president of Middlebury College, and Mitch Rosner (Res class of ’00, Fellow class of ’02) has served as the interim executive vice president for health affairs since Craig Kent resigned the position in late February.

The Board of Visitors is the governing body of UVA. Its 17 members are appointed by the governor to staggered four-year terms and are approved by the Virginia General Assembly.

Election and oversight of UVA’s president rests with the BOV. Under state code, the BOV may remove a sitting president with a two-thirds vote of its members.

According to its website, the BOV has not met in open or closed session since its June 4-6 meeting.

The board’s makeup is currently in dispute. On March 26, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, took the unusual step of firing from the board U. Bert Ellis (Col class of ’75, Darden class of ’79), whom he had appointed in 2022. Youngkin sought to replace Ellis with Ken Cuccinelli (Engr class of ’91). However, in June, the Virginia Senate’s Committee on Privileges and Elections rejected Cuccinelli and the rest of Youngkin’s appointments at other schools awaiting approval. Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares has stated that the committee did not have the power to reject the appointments without the vote of the full Senate. Most recently, the Democratic senators have sued to keep Cuccinelli and the other rejected appointments off the respective boards.

Today, four new Youngkin-appointed members begin their terms on the BOV, replacing four members appointed by former Gov. Ralph Northam whose terms expired. They will also need approval from the General Assembly.