Trump's DOJ pressuring University of Virginia to axe its president over DEI programs: report

The Trump administration has privately urged the University of Virginia to remove its president to help resolve a Justice Department probe into the institution's diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, according to a report.

The Justice Department has argued that the university's president, James E. Ryan, has not dismantled its diversity, equity and inclusion programs and misrepresented the steps taken to eliminate them, amid the administration's efforts to root out DEI in higher education, The New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the department, the university and Ryan for comment.

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The federal government’s moves targeting higher education include pulling billions of dollars from elite universities such as Harvard, which has been the subject of investigations by at least six different federal agencies over issues such as DEI initiatives, admissions practices and alleged antisemitism on campus.

But this would be the first time the administration has pressured a university to remove its president.

The call for Ryan's removal was made over the past month in several instances to university officials by Gregory Brown, the deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights, according to The New York Times.

Brown, a University of Virginia graduate, has been instrumental in the investigation. He told a university representative last week that Ryan needed to go so that an investigation could begin, the outlet reported.

The Justice Department’s top civil rights lawyer, Harmeet K. Dhillon, who earned her law degree from the University of Virginia at the same time as Ryan, has also been involved in negotiations with the university, according to The Times. 

Ryan, who was hired as the university's president in 2018, has focused on increasing diversity at the school, bringing in more first-generation students and encouraging community service, The Times noted. These efforts have ruffled the feathers of conservative alumni and Republican board members who argue he is "too woke" and wants to impose his beliefs on students. 

Before his time as the university's president, Ryan served as the dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he received recognition for his commitment to DEI programs.

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Conservative groups have lambasted Ryan for what they regard as insufficient steps toward compliance with the administration. 

America First Legal, a nonprofit launched by Trump advisor Stephen Miller, accused the University of Virginia last month of running rebranded DEI programs to skirt Trump's orders. 

"Rebranding discrimination does not make it legal, and changing a label doesn’t change the substance," Megan Redshaw, an attorney at America First Legal, said in a statement at the time. "UVA’s use of sanitized language and recycled job titles is a deliberate attempt to sidestep the law."

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment on demands that the university oust Ryan.