I’m apparently not the only neutral observer who thinks UVA bent the knee to the Trump administration in agreeing to neuter its DEI initiatives in violation of state law.
“We urge you to reconsider this agreement and to defend the University’s autonomy, Virginia’s sovereignty, and the constitutional limits on federal power. Thomas Jefferson founded this University to be a beacon of enlightenment and independence. It should not become a cautionary tale of capitulation to federal overreach,” State Sens. Scott Surovell and Louise Lucas wrote in a letter to Interim UVA President Paul Mahoney and UVA Board of Visitors Rector Rachel Sheridan dated Oct. 26, so, Sunday.
The letter references the agreement announced last week between the University of Virginia and the Justice Department that UVA is trying to frame as getting the DOJ out of the school’s business with regard to its DEI initiatives with “no monetary penalty and no external monitoring,” but the Trumpers are casting things with this quite differently.
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A DOJ news release on the agreement said UVA agreed “to be bound by the Department of Justice’s ‘Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination,’ ensuring that UVA does not engage in unlawful racial discrimination in its university programming, admissions, hiring, or other activities.”
“The Department will pause its pending investigations into the university’s admissions policies and other civil rights concerns,” the DOJ release reported. “The United States shall treat UVA as eligible for future grants and awards. If UVA completes its planned reforms prohibiting DEI at the university, the Department will close its investigations against UVA.”
It’s no surprise that UVA, currently run by a Board of Visitors with a supermajority of MAGA members appointed by MAGA sycophant Glenn Youngkin, would bend over for the Trumpers in the DOJ on the issue of DEI, which was the motivating factor behind the sham investigations led by DOJ issues that led to the forced resignation of Jim Ryan as president of UVA back in the summer.
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“While we understand the tremendous pressure the University has faced – pressure that ultimately led to President Ryan’s resignation – we believe UVA capitulated to legally dubious federal overreach without mounting necessary constitutional challenges,” Surovell, the Senate Majority Leader, and Lucas, the chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, wrote in their Oct. 26 letter.
The senators request that UVA “commission independent constitutional analysis of the October 22 agreement from outside counsel,” which seems fair.
“The Board owes the General Assembly – and the people of Virginia – a specific and detailed explanation of why it entered into this agreement without any consultation with the legislative body that controls the University and provides its state funding. How does the University plan to comply with Virginia law while simultaneously satisfying the DOJ’s demand to eliminate DEI programs?” Lucas and Surovell wrote.
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Chris Graham
