University of Virginia President James E. Ryan seen against the backdrop of the school's campus. (Getty Images)
The federal government’s moves targeting higher education include pulling billions of dollars from elite universities such as Harvard, which has been the subject of investigations by at least six different federal agencies over issues such as DEI initiatives, admissions practices and alleged antisemitism on campus.
But this would be the first time the administration has pressured a university to remove its president.
The call for Ryan's removal was made over the past month in several instances to university officials by Gregory Brown, the deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights, according to The New York Times.
Brown, a University of Virginia graduate, has been instrumental in the investigation. He told a university representative last week that Ryan needed to go so that an investigation could begin, the outlet reported.
The Justice Department’s top civil rights lawyer, Harmeet K. Dhillon, has been involved in negotiations with the university. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
Conservative groups have lambasted Ryan for what they regard as insufficient steps toward compliance with the administration.
America First Legal, a nonprofit launched by Trump advisor Stephen Miller, accused the University of Virginia last month of running rebranded DEI programs to skirt Trump's orders.
"Rebranding discrimination does not make it legal, and changing a label doesn’t change the substance," Megan Redshaw, an attorney at America First Legal, said in a statement at the time. "UVA’s use of sanitized language and recycled job titles is a deliberate attempt to sidestep the law."
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment on demands that the university oust Ryan.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trumps-doj-pressuring-university-virginia-axe-its-president-over-dei-programs-report