In 'Extraordinary' Move, UVa Leader Is Forced Out by DoJ

It appears that the White House has succeeded in pushing out the leader of the University of Virginia over the school's DEI policies. The New York Times and the Washington Post report that James Ryan tendered his resignation to the university's board, and the board accepted it. Earlier, the Times reported that the Justice Department demanded Ryan's resignation as a condition of settling its civil rights investigation into UVa's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

Essentially, the Justice Department accused Ryan of not unwinding DEI initiatives as directed, which the department sees as a civil rights matter. Instead, Ryan kept the policies in place after rebranding them, the department said, warning that hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding were at risk. Ryan's resignation letter says he will step down no later than August 15. Both stories use the word "extraordinary" to describe the resignation under federal pressure.