On the recordJune 27, 2025
I am writing, with a very heavy heart, to let you know that I have submitted my resignation as President of the University of Virginia.
I am writing, with a very heavy heart, to let you know that I have submitted my resignation as President of the University of Virginia.
Ryan announced his resignation amid pressure from the Trump administration.
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Forcing university presidents to resign, moreover, has not been part of the playbook of the Trump administration; as far as I know, I am the only university president in the country who has been forced to resign as part of a supposed deal…
The call for my resignation, right until the end, seemed so outlandish as not to be entirely believable.
But I cannot make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my own job.
If I did not resign that day, I was told that the D.O.J. would extract/block hundreds of millions of dollars from U.Va. before they would even negotiate.