Alumni group calls on UVA to fire President Jim Ryan: ‘Politicized and feckless leadership’

Group takes out full-page ad in Richmond Times-Dispatch, launches online campaign

The College Fix

By McKenli Myers - Utah State University 

May 20, 2025


A group of concerned University of Virginia alumni are calling for the termination of President Jim Ryan, arguing his six-year tenure has been beset with scandal and his leadership has overseen an academic and reputational decline at the venerable institution.


The Jefferson Council recently took out a full-page ad in the Richmond Times-Dispatch and published an online campaign called Reset UVA to lobby for change.


The ad cites what the council contends are “seven major leadership failures under President Jim Ryan.” They allege he “enabled the worst outbreak of antisemitism in UVA history,”
“allowed UVA’s historic Honor System to deteriorate,” and “instituted a political agenda under the guise of DEI,” among other concerns.


“Jim Ryan’s politicized and feckless leadership combined with his institutionalization of double standards has led to an unprecedented series of tragedies, scandals, and government investigations that have severely damaged UVA’s core values and reputation,” reads the headline of the Jefferson Council’s Reset UVA website.


Joel Gardner, president of the Jefferson Council, told The College Fix in a telephone interview that group members believe “in a depoliticized campus, where the governing body and the president are neutral on political and social agendas.”


“We believe in the principles of freedom of expression and speech. UVA and Jim Ryan have strayed from these principles and have pushed a social agenda in the guise of DEI,” he said.

The University of Virginia’s media relations team has not responded to repeated requests from The College Fix seeking comment.


In March, the university’s governing board voted unanimously to dissolve the DEI office and any other practices pertaining to race-based systems. Earlier this month, the Department of Justice sent a letter to UVA demanding it comply with the directive.


A spokesperson for Gov. Glenn Younkin told The College Fix: “The Board of Visitors will hold UVA’s administration accountable for ending DEI at the University, as the board has already unanimously voted to do.”


The campaign against Ryan comes as the University of Virginia also fields criticism from the Jefferson Council for rebranding its identity-based graduation ceremonies.


The university changed its “Lavender Graduation,” an LGBTQ+ graduation ceremony, as well as the “Multicultural Graduation,” to “Recognition Ceremonies” in an effort to comply with federal anti-discrimination laws.


But the Department of Education’s Dear Colleague Letter sent in mid-February clarified that such ceremonies violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act if they exclude or favor students based on race.


Several universities across the nation, including Harvard, have canceled their affinity-based ceremonies in response to the federal guidance.


The council launched a website called “DEI at UVA” to highlight what it contends are DEI infractions at the university.


“It’s just a change of name. What the school has done is rebrand, but they still function under DEI,” Gardner told The Fix, adding it is another example of the “social and political justice agenda that has crept into every little bit of the university.”



“Despite the language of inclusivity, the [renamed grad] events are clearly identity-based and contribute to the fragmentation of campus life along racial and sexual orientation lines—directly at odds with the principle of equal treatment in public education,” the council states on the website.


The council also argued that the “Donning of the Kente Ceremony,” which is sponsored by UVA’s Office of African-American Affairs, “is yet another instance of a de facto segregated graduation ceremony, thinly veiled as a cultural celebration.”


https://www.thecollegefix.com/alumni-group-calls-on-uva-to-fire-president-jim-ryan-politicized-and-feckless-leadership/

Where Liberty and Learning Endure

June 29, 2026
As America commemorates 250 years of independence, we reflect on the enduring principles of liberty and learning that have defined Davidson College for nearly two centuries.

Bankruptcy and Higher Education

June 21, 2026
By Todd Zywicki The Wall Street Journal June 21, 2026 Auburn University is known for its agricultural and STEM programs, its flight school and athletic programs. But the land-grant university recently became notable for another reason: The board of trustees is taking control of the school back from its faculty. The board began seizing the university’s academic programs—including curriculum, course offerings, degree requirements and academic credentials—at its June 5 meeting. The board also dissolved the faculty senate and replaced it with an advisory council to the president, which includes two faculty members from each of the university’s colleges and additional members appointed by the president. The board’s assertion of authority mirrors incoming mandates by the Alabama Legislature restricting the role of faculty senates in the state’s public university system. Predictably, Auburn’s faculty has responded with howls of outrage, decrying these intrusions on the faculty’s authority over academic operations. How could outsiders appointed through a political process have the expertise to make such delicate decisions? I’ve been a professor at a state university for almost 30 years, and I am sympathetic up to a point. But before becoming a professor I was a bankruptcy lawyer. And bankruptcy law teaches an important lesson for how academia can respond to this moment. Bankruptcy gives businesses an opportunity to admit mistakes, reform and emerge stronger. Successful enterprises don’t need bankruptcy lawyers. But when an enterprise loses its way, it goes into receivership. Most universities aren’t financially bankrupt but have lost their mission and direction. Society has long recognized certain institutions’ authority to manage their own affairs. Two notable examples are licensed professionals—such as doctors and lawyers—and universities. Universities, even state universities, have run their enterprises with minimal external oversight. Faculties enjoyed substantial rights of self-governance because they committed to higher standards than those required by ordinary jobs. Professors would establish and maintain standards of scholarly integrity, freedom of speech and inquiry, and rigorous dedication to merit-based assessment of research in specialized areas. They policed their own house, enforcing norms of truth-seeking, maintaining scholarly integrity and rigor, and ensuring that students emerged with basic knowledge, employable skills and civic competency. But over the past several decades, commitment to those values collapsed. Surveys by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression consistently reveal fear among students and faculty around expressing unfashionable ideas. Universities have seen shout-downs, cancellations and even violence against speakers. Merit and quality yielded to “diversity” and “equity.” Truth-seeking has been displaced by faddish theories and ideologically charged teaching and research. Professors design esoteric departments and teach niche classes to cliques of activist students while the needs of other students and taxpayers for real education go unaddressed. Like companies I represented, universities have lost their way. And many have proved either unable or unwilling to self-correct. When that happens, it is appropriate to put institutions into receivership until they reform and rededicate themselves to their mission. At Auburn incoming students must now take certain required civics and history courses to master basic competency in U.S. history and government. To ensure the classes actually meet that objective, professors will have to make their syllabi publicly available. In the classroom, instructors will be expected to stick to the matter at hand and avoid free-ranging political punditry. Just as other companies can learn from the ones that go bankrupt, other institutions of higher education can learn something from Auburn: Fix what’s broken, or someone else might fix it for you. Mr. Zywicki is a professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. He was a Dartmouth College trustee, 2005-09. https://www.wsj.com/opinion/bankruptcy-and-higher-education-4c2b178e

Race Preferences Are Falling Nationwide

June 19, 2026
By the Editorial Board The Wall Street Journal June 19, 2026 The Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against racial preferences is turning out to be a landmark with profound consequences as its influence spreads. On Thursday the famously progressive Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a state program that issued scholarships based on race violates the U.S. Constitution. Justice Annette Ziegler wrote for the court that the Constitution requires “that every person ‘must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race,’” and that the state cannot “use race as a factor in affording educational opportunities among its citizens.” That must have been painful for the activist liberal majority on the court. In a concurrence, Wisconsin Chief Justice Jill Karofsky took some shots at Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College (2023) before acknowledging that “I am bound by the precedent set forth in SFFA” and other Supreme Court rulings “when interpreting the Fourteenth Amendment.” The case was brought by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty against a 1985 Badger State law that reserved need-based scholarships through a grant program for “Black American,” “American Indian,” “Hispanic” and some Southeast Asian undergraduate students enrolled in Wisconsin’s private and technical colleges. Last week the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a scholarship program earmarked for black University of Iowa students studying physical sciences was “impracticable” under SFFA. State governments would be wise to repeal these discriminatory grant programs, or the courts will do it for them.
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