DOJ Pressures University of Virginia President Jim Ryan to Resign

The U.S. Department of Justice, under President Trump’s administration, has demanded that University of Virginia President Jim Ryan resign amid an investigation into the university’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. DOJ officials, including Gregory Brown and Harmeet K. Dhillon—both UVA alumni—accuse Ryan of slow-walking the removal of DEI initiatives and misrepresenting the university's efforts to dismantle them. This unprecedented federal demand to oust a university president highlights the Trump administration’s aggressive campaign to reshape higher education's ideological landscape and its use of federal investigative powers to enforce this agenda. The pressure on Ryan is supported by conservative groups such as the Jefferson Council, which criticizes Ryan for failure to address issues like antisemitism and gun violence while promoting DEI. The DOJ’s insistence on Ryan’s removal represents a highly unusual intrusion into university governance and signals the administration’s broader efforts to curb race-conscious programs in education. Neither the DOJ nor UVA has publicly commented on these demands.