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 had 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.
