Chris Seaman
‪@cbseaman.bsky.social‬

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This is a must-read story (including full text of letters from a FOIA request) by the Daily Cavalier about Trump admin's efforts to misuse federal antidiscrimination law in support of its ideological agenda against DEI at UVA. Kudos to the student journalists!
https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025/07/letters-from-doj-reveal-threats-to-uva-over-admissions-policies-ryans-leadership

Letters from DOJ reveal threats to U.Va. over admissions policies, Ryan’s leadership
“Time is running short, and the Department’s patience is wearing thin,” the final letter read
www.cavalierdaily.com
July 2, 2025 at 2:31 PM

Chris Seaman
‪@cbseaman.bsky.social‬

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The final letter dated 6/17 - addressed to incoming Rector Rachel Sheridan & cc'd McGuireWoods law firm - threatens to withold federal $$ unless "dramatic, wholesale changes" are made to UVA's "current administration" - is a clear demand to BoV to fire Jim Ryan. Youngkin appointees are complicit.

July 2, 2025 at 2:37 PM

Chris Seaman
‪@cbseaman.bsky.social‬

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It appears from this letter that the McGuireWoods firm has been leading UVA's internal review related to DEI, and possibly negotiating with the Trump admin. (The named lawyer in the letter is a Regent Law grad, FWIW.) I have requested all relevant agreements and invoices via FOIA.
July 2, 2025 at 2:39 PM

Gregory W. Brown
@GregoryWBrown
We are all Team Jesus at @CivilRights - super good guy and extraordinary lawyer. Even better friend and colleague.

University of Virginia President Resigns Under Pressure From Trump Administration
The Justice Department had demanded that James E. Ryan step down in order to help resolve a civil rights investigation into the school.

June 27, 2025


James E. Ryan, the University of Virginia’s ninth president, speaking to supporters on Friday. During his seven years in the job, Mr. Ryan developed a reputation as a champion of diversity. Kirsten Luce for The New York Times

The Trump administration on Friday secured perhaps the most significant victory in its pressure campaign on higher education, forcing the resignation of the University of Virginia’s president, James E. Ryan, over the college’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. {snip} The New York Times reported on Thursday evening that the Justice Department had demanded Mr. Ryan’s resignation as a condition to settle a civil rights investigation into the school’s diversity practices. ... In a letter sent on Thursday to the head of the board overseeing the university, Mr. Ryan said that he had planned to step down at the end of the next academic year. But “given the circumstances and today’s conversations,” he wrote, he had decided “with deep sadness” to tender his resignation now, according to one of the people familiar with the matter who was briefed on the letter’s contents.

{snip}

The Justice Department had targeted the University of Virginia for at least the past month. But 10 days ago, government lawyers tasked with enforcing federal laws issued a stern warning to the board overseeing the University of Virginia that the school needed to act quickly. The department informed the college of multiple complaints of race-based treatment on campus, and of the government’s conclusion that the use of race in admissions and other student benefits were “widespread practices throughout every component and facet of the institution.” ... “Time is running short, and the department’s patience is wearing thin,” the letter, dated June 17, said. ... The letter was signed by Ms. Dhillon and Gregory W. Brown, the deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights. Both are graduates of the university. Mr. Brown, as a private lawyer, had previously sued his alma mater, and Ms. Dhillon overlapped with Mr. Ryan during their time as students at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Some members of the school’s board had pushed for Mr. Ryan’s ouster, fearing that if the university failed to comply with the Justice Department's demands, the Trump administration would follow through on its threat to strip the school of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding. The university received at least $355 million in federal research grants in 2023, according to data compiled by The New York Times. ... Board members have also expressed concerns that under Mr. Ryan, the school had not properly dismantled the school’s diversity initiatives despite a 2023 Supreme Court decision doing away with affirmative action and Mr. Trump’s executive order aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

In recent days, members of the board appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, had talked to senior Justice Department officials to learn what could be done to resolve the situation, and were told Mr. Ryan had to go. In response to those discussions, members of the board had been anxious to demonstrate to the Trump administration that Mr. Ryan would indeed step aside, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. ... In a email sent to alumni on Friday afternoon confirming that he had resigned, Mr. Ryan said that he was “inclined to fight for what I believe in,” but that he could not “make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my own job.”

{snip}