Have We Lost the Thread?

On June 27 one year ago, the University of Virginia community was rocked by Jim Ryan’s
announcement that he was resigning as our 9 th president. It was a major national news story.
And while the headlines have waned, one year later we continue to ask the question why UVA
was singularly targeted with such a harsh penalty. In his resignation letter, President Ryan
communicated that it was not his wish to leave, but that he lacked necessary allies [on the
Board of Visitors] to support a fight to remain in the role, and that if he resisted demands to
resign, the Department of Justice would seek retribution against UVA in the form of grant
cancellations. The outcry from the resignation of a popular and accomplished president was
visceral and loud, and the effects of it continue to reverberate throughout the University
community, even today.

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The question we are left with is, why? Why was UVA forced to sacrifice its president in order to
continue to receive federal funds while other elite American universities, also under pressure
from the Trump Administration, did not suffer the same penalty. Just last week, it was reported
that Yale is also under federal pressure to enter into an agreement with the Department of
Justice. With Yale however, the DOJ has issued findings of actual discrimination, but there does
not appear to be a call for Yale’s president to step down. At UVA, by contrast, President Ryan
was forced to resign before the DOJ had finished—or even started---its investigation, and the
DOJ never issued any findings. So why is the Yale president left alone even though the DOJ
issued findings that assert Yale broke the law, while Jim Ryan was forced to resign before there
were any findings at all—and, indeed, the DOJ has to this day issued no findings whatsoever
that UVA violated the law?

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Months passed before Jim Ryan shared what he knew of the events of the spring. Ryan’s
November 14, 2025 letter, corroborated by the former Rector Robert Hardie, brought many
facts into the open. However, in that letter Jim himself notes that he remains unsure of much
that occurred behind the scenes that resulted in the outcome. Those questions remain
unanswered.

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A terrible injustice was done to Jim Ryan and to the institution he served. How do we address
the harm done? Is simply moving on and hoping for healing through the passage of time a
healthy response? Or do unaddressed wounds continue to fester within the University’s
stakeholder groups, and at what cost? Has UVA betrayed its own principles?

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For the entire year since, we have encountered countless alumni, students, faculty and staff who share that
they admired Jim, valued his vision for the University and still miss him. Not surprisingly, 83% of
respondents in the Alumni Association’s Vox Alumni poll last July were opposed to Jim’s forced
resignation and the events that preceded it. Aren’t all of us owed the full story of what
happened? Whose idea was it to insist that he had to give up his job when no other president was asked to? What were the roles of Governor Youngkin and state Attorney General Miyares,of the Rector and Vice-Rector and other disgruntled members of the Board and the University’s
outside counsel?

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At its March 2026 meeting, a reconstituted Board called for a study of the search process that
led to Scott Beardsley’s selection in December as the University’s 10 th president. We appreciate
the actions taken by Rector Brown and the Board, and understand the investigation is well
under way. But what’s missing is the predicate. There would have been no need for a
presidential search if the 9 th president hadn’t been forced out of office. President Beardsley
assumed the presidency in the midst of an on-going crisis. It is deeply unfair to him that so
many unanswered questions continue to hang over the University as he attempts to articulate a
plan for UVA’s next steps. UVA, its stakeholders and all constituent parties deserve full
transparency about the events of 2025. Until we reckon with the past, and the events that led
to the ouster of President Ryan, it is difficult to fully address the University’s current and future
challenges.

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It is summer again. We are left to ask, who will undertake a full investigation of the events of a
year ago? Will the Board acknowledge the University’s need for truth and reconciliation and
create a process to uncover all that was being said and done behind closed doors? Or will it
need to fall to the General Assembly? Or some combination of the two? How and when will the
damage be remediated?

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And what of Jim Ryan himself? A plan to honor the Ryan legacy of leadership should be
developed and implemented. Here are a few ideas: fund a faculty chair in Ryan’s name in every
school at UVA in recognition of his work on behalf of the whole academic enterprise. Name one
of the new, philanthropy-funded buildings for him. Let’s make amends in the ways we know
we can. Like a Run for Jim, it’s past time for a Fund for Jim.

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Our Founder’s words apply here, as always. “[T]his institution will be based on the illimitable
freedom of the human mind, for here we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may
lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.”

Wahoos4UVA Co-Chairs
Ann Brown A&S ’74 Law ‘77
Chris Ford ENGR ‘87

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