WASHINGTON (AP) — The University of Virginia has agreed to abide by White House guidance forbidding discrimination in admissions and hiring, becoming the latest in a growing list of campuses striking deals with the Trump administration as it tries to pause months of scrutiny brought by the U.S. Justice Department.
The agreement was announced by the Justice Department, which began reviewing the admissions and financial aid processes at the Charlottesville campus in April. Officials accused its president of failing to end diversity, equity and inclusion practices President Donald Trump has called unlawful.
The mounting pressure prompted James Ryan to announce his resignation as university president in June, saying the stakes were too high for others on campus if he opted to “fight the federal government in order to save my job.”
The university agreed to be bound by federal guidance forbidding racial discrimination in admission and hiring, as described by the Justice Department. It also agreed to provide relevant data on a quarterly basis through 2028. The president will have to personally certify that the university is in compliance each quarter.
Virginia’s settlement follows other agreements signed by Columbia and Brown universities to end federal investigations and restore access to federal funding. Columbia paid $200 million to the government, and Brown paid $50 million to Rhode Island workforce development organizations.
Some of the Justice Department’s letters squarely took aim at Ryan, accusing him of engaging in “attempts to defy and evade federal anti-discrimination laws and the directives of your board.” Much of the federal scrutiny centered on complaints that Ryan was too slow to implement a March 7 resolution by the university’s governing board demanding the eradication of DEI on campus.
The Charlottesville campus became a flashpoint this year after conservative critics accused it of simply renaming its DEI initiatives rather than ending them. The Justice Department expanded the scope of its review several times and announced a separate investigation into alleged antisemitism in May.
