by Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury
July 1, 2025

University of Virginia president Jim Ryan’s abrupt resignation in the midst of federal pressure on the school to end its DEI initiatives set off a firestorm of controversy, with Virginia Democratic lawmakers now pledging that they will find ways to prevent further politicization of higher education. The lawmakers said they’re reconsidering legislation to support governing boards and reevaluating the gubernatorial appointments process.

UVA President Jim Ryan resigns amid federal ultimatum

Democratic legislators started speaking against the impetus of Ryan’s resignation soon after he announced the news Friday.

“It’s just outrageous,” said Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville. “I don’t know that this sort of thing has ever happened before, where the federal government has reached down, totally around the governing structure that a sovereign state has set up for governance of its universities, and has forced this sort of change.”

On Saturday, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell said his colleagues are exploring all options to navigate what they framed as questionable higher education decisions made by President Donald Trump, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and their administrations, including reviewing the governor’s multiple appointments to college governing boards.

“We’ve been getting calls to stand up from people all around the commonwealth, and we have to look at these people very carefully and decide where to confirm them,” Surovell said. “When we come back in January, reform is going to be on the table, because we cannot afford to ever let this happen again,” Surrovell added, in reference to the upcoming legislative session.

The New York Times first reported that the Department of Justice claimed that UVA had merely rebranded its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts instead of eliminating them as mandated by Trump’s executive order, which warned of federal funding cuts for noncompliance.

UVA’s governing board was the first in the commonwealth to dissolve its DEI initiatives and Virginia’s efforts to challenge DEI efforts ramped up under the Youngkin administration.. 

In January 2022, Youngkin renamed the state Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion through an executive order by replacing“equity” with “opportunity,” contrary to state code. Then in April 2023, Martin Brown, the office director appointed by Youngkin, remarked that “DEI is dead” at the Virginia Military Institute.

“Let’s take a moment right now to kill that cow. DEI is dead,” Brown said. “We’re not going to bring that cow up anymore. It’s dead. It was mandated by the General Assembly, but this governor has a different philosophy of civil discourse, civility … living the golden rule, right?”

In January 2022, the governor also eliminated DEI-driven education programs at the Virginia Department of Education through an executive order by striking down “divisive concepts” in school curriculum.

Ryan’s resignation marked an unprecedented development for university leaders, a coalition of whom condemned the “Trump administration’s political pressure campaign” leading to Ryan’s exit.

“We view this campaign as an egregious attack on the independence and integrity of public higher education in Virginia,” Timothy Gibson, president of the Virginia Conference of the American Association of University Professors, said in a statement Monday.

Also on Monday, Ross Mugler, acting president & CEO of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges and a governing board member at Old Dominion University, said in a statement that the incident at UVA is not an isolated one; but a growing threat for all institutions.

“Governing boards and institutional leaders across the country must treat this moment as a wake-up call,” Mugler wrote. “Now is the time to reaffirm your board’s unwavering commitment to institutional autonomy, academic freedom and governance integrity. Boards must stand united with their presidents in the face of politicization, external interference, and efforts to erode public trust.”

In a letter to the UVA community on Friday, Ryan wrote that his resignation was “an excruciatingly difficult decision, and I am heartbroken to be leaving this way.” 

Republican leaders have largely stayed quiet following Ryan’s resignation, except for John Reid, the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor.

“Good. That’s what happens when you stick your middle finger up at the elected governor and the voters of Virginia and then play a game of chicken with the president of the United States on an issue that’s overtly reverse racist like DEI,” Reid wrote on social media Saturday.

He also claimed that Ryan has “presided over the decline of the honor system” at the institution.

“The great University of Virginia deserves leadership that will help it to regain its reputation as a place of high personal standards and robust intellectual curiosity and debate instead of a standard issue incubator of biased and emotional anti-American thought,” he wrote, warning other university leaders to take note that “DEI is dead” and they “better start being honest and fair with students and taxpayers if you want to keep your job.”

Ryan had faced recent criticism about his leadership and calls for him to step down from some segments of the UVA community.

On May 15, the Jefferson Council, a UVA alumni organization, urged UVA’s Board of Visitors to find new leadership at the institution, taking out a full-page advertisement in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. 

“The damage to UVA’s values and traditions is not theoretical—it is palpable and measurable, and is the result of leadership that has failed the entire University community,” said Joel Gardner, president of The Jefferson Council, in a May 15 statement.

The advertisement alleged there were multiple leadership failures under Ryan’s tenure, which “undermined the University’s integrity and founding ideals.”

The council said a deadly shooting in 2022 that took the lives of three students and wounded two others was mishandled under Ryan’s watch, and that his administration enabled the “worst outbreak of antisemitism” in UVA’s history. 

However, Wahoos4UVA, a group dedicated to defending the university from political influence, refuted the Jefferson Council’s claims in a public letter, saying the alumni group compromises the institution’s leadership and reputation through partisan attacks.

“They say they want to restore Jefferson’s vision, but their approach undermines the very ideals of free inquiry, reasoned debate, and honor that Jefferson championed. Their tactics — lies, personal attacks, and public disrespect — stand in direct opposition to the honor code and the values that define UVA,” the group wrote. “We want to set the record straight: UVA is thriving — and the overwhelming majority of alumni are proud of the progress being made under President Ryan’s leadership.”

Senate Democrats have fought against Youngkin’s influence over governing boards at Virginia’s institutions by rejecting some of his appointments from confirmation. However, the governor’s administration contends that until the General Assembly confirms the appointments in January, they can still serve.

Democrats are now challenging that in court, in a case they hope will determine if leaders at three of Virginia’s universities broke the rules by allowing rejected appointees to remain in their governing boards.

The lawsuit targets the leadership of the Virginia Military Institute, the University of Virginia and George Mason University.

Surovell said the Senate may also reconsider a proposal from last year’s session that Youngkin vetoed, which would have redefined the authority of governing boards within public universities regarding their legal affairs. The proposal would have given the boards the authority to manage independent legal counsel. It also clarified that the state attorney general’s involvement in legal matters would be limited to instances where their services are specifically requested.

Deeds said another idea would be to amend the state code, which specifies that gubernatorial appointments cannot take effect until they are confirmed by the General Assembly, typically in January. Currently, once the governor agrees, a gubernatorial appointment can be allowed to serve immediately on boards including on governing boards at Virginia’s higher education institutions. 

Recently, the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee was permitted to take up the appointments because lawmakers have not recessed from the 2024 Special Session.

Del. Katrina Callsen, D-Albemarle, said one of the areas lawmakers need to work on is ensuring the confirmation process for gubernatorial appointments is transparent and people understand how it works. She said even some of the new and seasoned legislators are uncertain of the process. 

“I think there absolutely can be ways to clarify so that we don’t have to take legal action in the future if someone does not step out of the role,” Callsen said.

Del. Amy Laufer, D-Albemarle, said she plans to introduce a legislative proposal that would require all public colleges and universities to elect nonvoting faculty and staff representatives to their boards. Most institutions allow nonvoting faculty representatives; the proposed bill would make it a requirement.

Lawmakers and supporters have advocated for similar efforts to give faculty and staff a voice in decision-making, aiming to improve policies on retention, recruitment, and overall workplace confidence.

The proposal has died in back-to-back sessions. Youngkin vetoed the bill in 2024, citing cost concerns and a lack of oversight. Deeds’ similarly unsuccessful proposal in 2023 focused solely on the University of Virginia’s governing board.

“I think it’s a great way to get more opinions and actual people that are interacting on the campus, to have their voices at the Board of Visitors,” Laufer said. “I think it’s crucial.”

Democratic lawmakers also haven’t ruled out the possibility of taking legal action against the federal government, as public concerns mount in the wake of Ryan’s resignation.

Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, called for a stand against the Trump administration’s attempts to interfere in Virginia’s higher education landscape, which she said are exemplified by threats to take federal funds from universities and leaders who don’t align with the administration’s educational ideology.

“They do not want an informed citizenry. They want folks to learn what they want them to learn, and in doing so, they are again undermining civil rights, civil liberties and higher education, because the fear is — as it was in antebellum days (by) not teaching slaves how to read and write — that if you have an informed citizenry, then one will begin to question and raise questions.”

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.

The post After UVA president’s exit, Dems say they want to prevent further politicization of higher education appeared first on virginiamercury.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Left-Leaning

This article from *Virginia Mercury* frames the resignation of UVA President Jim Ryan within a narrative critical of federal and state Republican actions, particularly under the Trump and Youngkin administrations. It gives significant voice to Democratic lawmakers, higher education advocates, and faculty groups while portraying the federal government’s intervention as unprecedented and harmful to institutional autonomy. While it includes a Republican viewpoint via John Reid, that portion is framed as combative and isolated. The consistent emphasis on defending DEI initiatives and criticizing conservative educational policy suggests a left-leaning perspective in tone and framing.