BURSTThe shocking ouster of the president of the University of Virginia (UVA) has shown the Trump administration is expanding its higher education battle to public universities and using local and state support to push its demands.
University President James Ryan announced Friday he would be leaving after an apparent pressure campaign from the Trump administration that went largely unreported until it reached its boiling point.
President Trump's Department of Justice (DOJ) began a civil rights investigation into UVA months ago, according to The New York Times, with the administration particularly concerned about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at the university.
The department specifically pushed for the ouster of Ryan to settle the civil rights investigation, according to The Times, after he built a reputation of embracing diversity initiatives and made enemies among the conservative bloc in the UVA community.
While UVA's Board of Visitors voted unanimously in March to shut down the university's DEI offices, it was not enough for the federal government.
The DOJ sent a letter to the university on June 17 saying “time is running out and the department’s patience is wearing thin;” its signatories included two employees who are both UVA alumni, according to The Times.
Ryan said in a statement last week that his choice was clear: The university loses millions of dollars in federal funding or he resigns a year earlier than when he was going to.
“While there are very important principles at play here, I would at a very practical level be fighting to keep my job for one more year while knowingly and willingly sacrificing others in this community,” he said.
While the administration has been vocal about some of its other university fights, such as those against Harvard and Columbia, the federal government kept the one against UVA under wraps. Some experts speculate the different approach was due to the support the federal government thought it could get among other UVA leadership that was not possible at the Ivy Leagues.
"It's not necessarily that they were trying to put public pressure on the president to resign as much as they were almost like leaning towards friendly ears in some ways, to say that, ‘Hey, nice university, it'd be a real shame if something happened to it,’” said Adam Harris, senior fellow at New America.
Protests were held on the school's Charlottesville Grounds after the ouster was announced, but for more conservative members of the school's alumni network, the move was a long time coming.
“The United States Department of Justice has a zero-tolerance policy toward illegal discrimination in publicly-funded universities. We have made this clear in many ways to the nation’s most prominent institutions of higher education, including the University of Virginia,” said Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the department and an alumna of the UVA School of Law.
“When university leaders lack commitment to ending illegal discrimination in hiring, admissions, and student benefits — they expose the institutions they lead to legal and financial peril. We welcome leadership changes in higher education that signal institutional commitment to our nation’s venerable federal civil rights laws,” Dhillon added.
“The surprise many are feeling reflects just how quiet and targeted these external pressures can be," said Ross Mugler, acting CEO and board chair of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. "When political interests, especially from outside the university, begin to shape leadership outcomes, it often happens behind the scenes until a tipping point is reached. The possibility of personal grievances playing a role only heightens the concern. This isn't how sound governance or institutional leadership decisions should be made."
Experts speculate UVA is a unique situation given the political backing the Trump administration was able to get from the university’s board, many of whom were appointed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
"UVA has a very active and very loud conservative advocacy group called the Jefferson Council, and they've been fighting Jim Ryan for years, and they have a friendly audience in right now, in the U.S. Department of Justice ... so all of that on a state and local content makes this kind of a unique case," said Jonathan Becker, associate professor of educational leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University.
The scalp marks the biggest move yet from the Trump administration against a public college, though it has also announced investigations into dozens of schools over alleged antisemitism on campus.
And while Trump may not be able to push out leaders at other schools as easily, it doesn’t mean he won’t try.
“The situation at the University of Virginia represents a serious escalation in the political pressure campaign against higher education — and a clear signal that this fight is not confined to elite private institutions like Harvard or Columbia,” Mugler said.
“What we’re seeing is a widening effort to reshape governance, leadership and institutional autonomy across the entire sector — including public universities that serve as civic anchors and engines of opportunity in their states,” he added.