Virginia’s Republican candidate for lieutenant governor says the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into the University of Virginia, which prompted the resignation of its president, was completely justified.
“I love UVa, I grew up coming here," John Reid, a former Richmond radio host, told The Daily Progress during a Tuesday campaign stop at First Free Coffee Bar just outside Charlottesville. "Going to the Grounds and the Lawn and seeing the Rotunda has been part of my childhood, into my adulthood. I have reverence for UVa — UVa needs some reform."
Reid attended Baylor University in Texas.
Reid repeated DOJ claims that UVa President Jim Ryan slow-walked the removal of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the school and misrepresented the progress that was made dismantling that DEI apparatus after the university’s governing Board of Visitors and President Donald Trump explicitly instructed him to do so.
“I don’t think the administration of the school was up front and honest with the faculty — with the faculty, with the students," Reid said.
He said administrators at Virginia’s public colleges must listen to taxpayers, who made their stance on higher education known when they elected Trump ally Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Youngkin, now in the last year of his term, has appointed every member of the UVa board.
“I get the impression that Jim Ryan didn’t care what Youngkin had to say, and didn’t care what the board had to say. He was going to do what he wanted,” Reid said. “I think a lot of people have gotten away with that, and it’s just not going to continue. It’s not going to continue under Republican leadership statewide, and Donald Trump has upped the ante and said, ‘You will answer these questions, and if you refuse to, there will be consequences.’”
‘Just and fair’
The UVa Board of Visitors unanimously voted in March to dismantle the school’s DEI office as well as all DEI programs, policies, scholarships and practices.
Between April and June, the Trump administration DOJ made repeated requests for evidence showing "the dissolution and dismantling of DEI at UVa,” at all 12 of its schools, its hospital system and its multiple partner nonprofit groups. But Ryan requested the DOJ extend its deadline and the DOJ claims Ryan failed to respond to multiple inquiries on the matter.
“I think that is just and fair, and it’s different, and it’s probably shocking to the leadership of the school, but I don’t think it’s out of line, and no, it’s not illegal,” Reid said Tuesday. “What are you supposed to do when you’re basically getting the middle finger from the leadership of one of the major schools in Virginia? … They refuse to engage — you got to go after them."
Ryan resigned last month after the New York Times reported that DOJ officials were explicitly calling for his resignation. DOJ officials have pushed back on that claim, saying they only emphasized to Ryan and the Board of Visitors that roughly $1 billion in federal funding was on the line if he did not act. According to Virginia officials, UVa has already had $400 million in federal funding stripped for unrelated reasons as the Trump administration cracks down on federal spending.
"I think a lesson was learned by everybody, by what the DOJ did, and I hope they’ll take that seriously,” Reid said.
The Trump administration intends to continue cracking down on Virginia colleges, moving from the state’s flagship public university to its largest public university.
The U.S. Department of Education last week opened an investigation into George Mason University for possible discrimination on top of an already ongoing investigation into the Fairfax County school over claims that it created a hostile environment for Jewish students since the onset of Israel’s war in Gaza.
A group of GMU professors filed a complaint with the federal government saying the university leadership illegally uses race as a factor in hiring and promotions.
Reid did say that DEI “probably began with Democrats who were sincere in trying to right wrongs."
Proponents of DEI in higher education have said it is meant to redress centuries of prejudice which has limited the resources and opportunities of minorities.
But Reid, and DEI’s opponents, say DEI ultimately engendered another form of discrimination, prioritizing minority status over merit.
“If you want DEI to be the way things are run, then go run a private school. The state of Virginia and the citizens of Virginia made it very clear, because this was a part of the conversation when Glenn Youngkin was running: That’s not what they wanted. And I do believe that they will make the same determination in this upcoming election,” he said.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com