Protesters rally on campus in support of University of Virginia President James E. Ryan on Friday. (Gregory S. Schneider / The Washington Post)
Opinion
Letters to the Editor The DOJ just forced out UVA’s president. It’s time to take a stand.
It’s sad, and dangerous, that the Trump administration took this step. Published June 27, 2025 at 6:12 p.m. EDT, Yesterday at 6:12 p.m. EDT, 2 min
Regarding The Post’s June 27 online news article “U-Va. president tells board he’ll resign amid Trump administration pressure”:
It is hard for me to tell whether I am more disturbed by the Trump administration’s decision to pressure James E. Ryan to resign as president of the University of Virginia to punish the school for Ryan’s dedication to the values of diversity, equity and inclusion or by Ryan’s resignation.
As head of the executive branch of our government, President Donald Trump has the right to set policies of organizations that he controls. And if DEI is deemed to be damaging to these agencies, he can demand its cessation; such efforts have been a hallmark of Pete Hegseth’s tenure as secretary of defense. Trump and his Justice Department should not have the ability to ask a university president to resign because he may or may not have complied with a decision by the university’s Board of Visitors.
The fact that the University of Virginia’s governing body is largely composed of appointees installed by a highly partisan Republican governor is a factor in the board’s decision. But this is another sad reminder of how our president has sought to remake educational institutions, no matter how esteemed and valuable they may be and no matter how well they have governed themselves and educated generations of students.
