University of Virginia President James E. Ryan stepped down after facing intense pressure from the Trump administration. (Getty Images)
Robert D. Hardie, leader of the University of Virginia's governing board, said in a statement he accepted Ryan's resignation with "profound sadness," adding that he had been an "extraordinary president," led the institution to "unprecedented heights" and that the university "has forever been changed for the better as a result of Jim's exceptional leadership."
This comes after the Trump administration had privately demanded that the university remove Ryan to help resolve a Justice Department probe into the institution's DEI practices, according to The New York Times.
The Justice Department argued that Ryan had failed to dismantle the school's DEI programs and misrepresented the steps taken to eliminate them, amid the administration's efforts to root out DEI in higher education, the newspaper reported.
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 various agencies over issues such as DEI initiatives, admissions practices and alleged antisemitism on campus.
But this was the first time the administration had pressured a university to remove its president.
"That sham virtue signaling of DEI has no place in our country, and the Trump administration is working tirelessly to erase this divisive, backward, and unjust practice from our society," White House spokesman Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital.
"Any university president willingly breaking federal civil rights laws will be met with the full force of the federal government, and it would behoove every school in America to prioritize the civil rights of every student and end DEI once and for all," he continued.
The Trump administration had privately demanded that the university remove Ryan to help resolve a Justice Department probe into the institution's DEI practices. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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"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."
The group took direct aim at Ryan, noting that he joined hundreds of other college presidents in signing a public statement condemning the administration's "overreach and political interference."
On Friday, the group vowed to continue to use every available tool to root out DEI.
"This week's developments make clear: public universities that accept federal funds do not have a license to violate the Constitution," Redshaw said in a statement to The Associated Press. "They do not get to impose ideological loyalty tests, enforce race and sex-based preferences, or defy lawful executive authority."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/university-virginia-president-resigns-amid-pressure-from-trump-admin-over-dei-initiatives