The Justice Department had demanded that James E. Ryan step down in order to help resolve a civil rights investigation into the school.
The University of Virginia’s president, James E. Ryan, has told the board overseeing the school that he will resign in the face of demands by the Trump administration that he step aside in order to help resolve a Justice Department inquiry into the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, according to three people briefed on the matter.
For the leader of a major public university to take such an extraordinary step demonstrates President Trump’s success in harnessing the investigative powers of the federal government to accomplish his administration’s policy goals.
The New York Times reported on Thursday evening that the Justice Department had demanded Mr. Ryan’s resignation as a condition to settle a civil rights investigation into the school’s diversity practices.
In a letter to the head of the board overseeing the university sent on Thursday, Mr. Ryan said that he had planned to step down at the end of the next academic year but “given the circumstances and today’s conversations” he had decided “with deep sadness” to tender his resignation, according to one of the people familiar with the matter who was briefed on the contents of the letter.
The school’s board has accepted Mr. Ryan’s resignation, according to two of the people briefed on the matter.
It was unclear when Mr. Ryan will leave his post. He said in his letter to the head of the board that his resignation was could be effective immediately but “no later than August 15, 2025,” according to the person briefed on the letter.
