In a press conference Friday afternoon, Senator Tim Kaine denounced the resignation of University of Virginia President Jim Ryan under pressure from the Trump administration. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
UVa's president has resigned, according to The New York Times. The news outlet had reported yesterday that Justice Department officials privately demanded Ryan step down, telling university leaders that hundreds of millions of federal funding dollars are at stake, and that Ryan's departure would help "resolve" their investigation.
Senator Tim Kaine called the demand an unacceptable level of "federal overreach."
TIM KAINE: I am extremely disturbed by the news from Charlottesville today, that mid-level functionaries at the Department of Justice have essentially forced President Jim Ryan to resign … by dangling over him severe financial consequences to the university in terms of lost research grants and continuing investigations.
The Times reported that the DOJ claims the university has disregarded civil rights law as interpreted under the Trump administration, and that Ryan misrepresented his efforts towards dismantling the school's diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
KAINE: You resign, and we'll release the funds that we have frozen, federal grant funds, and we'll stop this investigation. I'm not aware of precedent for that. … I've been in public office in Virginia now since 1994. A federal agency involving itself and trying to force somebody to resign – which is a job for the Board of Visitors, not for the federal government – it's unprecedented.
Neither Ryan nor UVa had issued a public statement about the resignation by the time this story aired.
