Category: DEI
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Turning Point?
Federal overreach, state silence, and the resignation of Jim Ryan by David J. Toscano “…Or we will bleed you white.” It sounds like a mob threat from a B-movie. But it captures the essence of what Trump’s Department of Justice told University of Virginia officials: remove President Jim Ryan — or face financial ruin. Jim…
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Trapped in an Ideological Bubble
by James A. Bacon Michael Paul Williams, the Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist who won a Pulitzer Prize for his post-George Floyd commentary, is trapped in an ideological bubble and can’t break out. When opining on the departure of Jim Ryan from the University of Virginia presidency in his most recent column, he displays a bare-bones familiarity…
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And in Other Higher-Ed News….
The Richmond Times-Dispatch contrasts how Virginia Commonwealth University dismantled Diversity, Equity & Inclusion with relatively modest controversy — and provides a sharp contrast with the University of Virginia. Here’s how Eric Kolenich summarizes VCU’s response: When state and federal officials told Virginia Commonwealth University to scrub DEI from every corner of campus, the university’s administrators went…
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Virginia Senate Dems Have Lost It Over the Ryan Resignation
by James A. Bacon Leaders of the state Senate Democratic Caucus held an online press conference Saturday to express their dismay to the resignation of President Jim Ryan as president of the University of Virginia and outline their legislative priorities in the next General Assembly session. It was frightening. There are two main takeaways: First,…
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Dhillon Defends DOJ Pressure on UVA
by James A. Bacon The Department of Justice (DOJ) tried for three months to get answers to questions about the University of Virginia’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion program but never received a substantive answer, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights division told CNN news anchor Jake Tapper. “They didn’t respond at all?”…
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And Then They Came for the Intellectuals II
Conservatives will rue the day when they permit the federal government to coerce the resignation of any university president, especially one at a state university that answers to its legislature, governor, and citizens. by David Toscano Observers of higher education had been predicting that University of Virginia President Jim Ryan might be ousted by U.Va.’s…
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Binnie Peay, Then Jim Ryan
by Gordon C. Morse Jim Ryan resigned as president of the University of Virginia today and there goes a man of integrity who followed his own lights and acted upon his own beliefs. But then the political winds shifted, outside forces cranked up the pressure and it finally got to be too much. Wait, this…
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Ryan Resigns
by James A. Bacon Under pressure from the Department of Justice, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan has submitted his resignation to resolve a DOJ investigation into the University’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, reports the New York Times. The Board has accepted Ryan’s resignation. In a letter to Rector Robert Hardie, Ryan said that he…
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Gerber Vindicated
Scott Douglas Gerber, a current Virginia resident and occasional contributor to Bacon’s Rebellion, reached a settlement with Ohio Northern University that includes reinstatement to his job and complete vindication to his reputation. ONU terminated his employment as a tenured law school professor after he objected to the University’s race-based hiring practices. ONU sent campus security…
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Do Conservatives Really Want This Precedent?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The New York Times is reporting that the Trump administration has demanded that the University of Virginia fire President Jim Ryan as the condition for “resolving” the federal government’s investigation into the school’s DEI efforts. President Trump has declared DEI illegal. No courts have done so. As much as they dislike Ryan,…
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Canceling Cuccinelli
by James A. Bacon I knew this was coming — I just didn’t expect it so soon. In what is sure to spark a growing movement, 18 student groups at the University of Virginia have sent a letter to members of the General Assembly to block the confirmation of Board of Visitors nominee Ken Cuccinelli,…
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DEI for Conservatives?
by James A. Bacon Defenders of the higher-ed status quo don’t dispute the imbalance of partisan and ideological views in college faculties, a reality that is so well documented that there is no sense in pretending otherwise. Rather, they’ve adopted a rhetorical gambit to put their critics on the defensive — painting them as hypocritical…
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Peay Breaks Silence to Defend VMI Board Member
Ever since he resigned in 2020 as superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute under pressure from then-Governor Ralph Northam, J.H. Binford Peay III has refrained from commenting on the furors raging at the military institute. Even as his 17-year legacy was being trashed and VMI was depicted as a racist, sexist institution, he held his…
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Racial Favoritism at Darden
The Consortium program helps women and minorities gain preferential access to internships and recruitment opportunities. by James A. Bacon Gerritt Jenkins, a married White male, was a first-year student at the Darden School of Business with an interest in making a career in i-banking. But he was frustrated and resentful. His study teammates seemed to…
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UVA Board Keeping Close Eye on Provost Search
by James A. Bacon The search at the University of Virginia to replace outgoing provost Ian Baucom is well underway. The outcome will reflect the shifting balance of power between President Jim Ryan and a Board of Visitors determined to bring a measure of intellectual diversity to an institution whose faculty and campus climate have…