Dems say UVA president’s resignation was a ‘coordinated effort’ by Trump administration to ‘weaponize the boards’

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Virginia Democrats say that the future of higher education is more at risk after the president of the University of Virginia (UVA) resigned on Friday due to pressure from the Department of Justice.

The New York Times broke the news in the morning on Friday, June 27, reporting that James Ryan had informed the university’s Board of Visitors of his plans to resign in August.

On the morning of Saturday, June 28, Virginia Democrats held a virtual press conference to respond to the New York Times report, which detailed pressure from President Donald Trump's administration on Ryan to resign as UVA president. Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) said this is a "coordinated effort" to weaponize boards across the Commonwealth.

This news comes after Virginia Democrats planned to sue the leaders of the Boards of Visitors at George Mason University, UVA and the Virginia Military Institute. 

Surovell emphasized that the Virginia Democrats hope to restructure boards, as these universities are under the control of the General Assembly, not the governor.

"This administration, Youngkin administration, working with the Trump administration, have been laying the groundwork to do what you saw yesterday from day one: to destroy values that are fundamental to our Commonwealth, to destroy our institutions that are central to our democracy," Surovell said.

"The concerns that we have [are] that if this can happen to UVA, what college is next?" Surovell asked. "We have 14 state-supported universities in this state that are the envy of systems across the United States of America. Which one is next?"

MORE: UVA president speaks on resignation, says he won’t put university at risk to save his job

Sen. Lashrecse Aird said that the importance of what occurred this past week at UVA is that this can happen to another institution in Virginia if she says "we stand quiet and don't make the point that we will stand idly by while this has occurred."

The Senate Democrats emphasized taking a look at the Board of Visitors and who is allowed to assume those positions before the confirmation from the General Assembly.

Multiple sources reportedly told the New York Times that the DOJ wanted Ryan to resign because it would “help resolve a Justice Department inquiry into the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.”

Aird said a majority of the Board of Visitors at other universities like Norfolk State University and Virginia State University are Youngkin-appointed at this time, and she says "no other institution will be safe if this is the precedent that is set."

Surovell emphasized that reform is on the table because they "cannot afford to let this happen again."

Sen. Mamie Locke, Caucus Chair, shared her perspective on how Trump and Youngkin view and instill fear in higher education, claiming that if the citizenry is informed, they will raise questions -- and that is a serious concern from the Trump administration and as a result, Youngkin.

"What we have is an attempt on the part of the Trump administration and followed by Youngkin and his folks, to instill a fear in our colleges and universities," Locke said. "What they are doing is trying to take us back to a time when, to the antebellum years. They're using federal funding -- your taxpayer dollars -- as a sledgehammer over institutions of higher education and to install that fear."