Between April 11 and June 17, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division sent seven letters to University officials, according to documents obtained by The Cavalier Daily through a Freedom of information Act request.
In these letters, the Justice Department sought confirmation that the University had removed affirmative action from its admissions policies and had ended Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. Some letters also alleged that the University had failed to protect students against antisemitism. The letters did not confirm whether or not the Justice Department’s demands had been met.
The documents confirm that the Justice Department alleged that then-University President Jim Ryan and other members of the University were violating federal law and were impeding their efforts to obtain documentation of certain policies. They threatened that if the University were to continue down this path, federal financial assistance could be suspended or terminated and civil action may be pursued.
“The penultimate duty of … any public official, including members of the Board of Visitors, is strict adherence to the laws of our nation,” a June 16 letter read. “To be sure, your Board cannot sit idly by while important federal laws are broken, and fundamental civil rights are impaired.”
Below is a timeline of all of the letters obtained by The Cavalier Daily at the time of publication.
April 11
The first letter was sent by the Justice Department to the University April 11 and requested information regarding the University’s admissions policies. The Justice Department said it aimed to ensure the University was no longer using affirmative action, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard in 2023.
The letter requested, among other documents, all admissions data broken down by race and ethnicity for the past five academic years, including applicant test scores, GPA, extracurricular activities, essays and admissions outcomes. It also requested that the University verify that race was not used as a factor in determining any scholarship or financial aid awards to students.
April 18
One week later, the Justice Department sent a second letter with demands which were identical to the first letter, but focused specifically on the School of Law’s admissions policies. The letter did not mention whether the University had failed to fulfill the first request.
April 28
At the end of April, Ryan and former Board of Visitors Rector Hardie received their first directly addressed letter from the Justice Department April 28. While previous letters had focused solely on inquiries into the University’s admissions policies, this letter instead focused on the Board’s March 7 directive to dissolve the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
The Justice Department’s letter claimed that it had received complaints that Ryan’s office and the University had failed to implement this directive and that Ryan had refused to produce the 30-day status report to the Board.
The University was told to submit all written and electronic records of Board meetings, including both public and closed sessions. The Justice Department also requested the report submitted by Ryan to the Board which provided an update on the dissolution of DEI initiatives, and certification that DEI offices, initiatives and personnel had been removed.
May 2
The Justice Department sent Ryan a letter May 2, regarding allegations of antisemitic discrimination against Jewish, Israeli or Israeli-American students and employees. The letter references one Jewish student who was allegedly the victim of hate-based misconduct and retaliation by the University in October 2024.
A host of demands were made, including that the University must describe disciplinary processes, including those of the University Judiciary Committee, and outcomes for individual cases. The Justice Department also said that the University must identify any University employee, faculty member or administrator involved in the hate-based misconduct mentioned in the letter and describe actions taken to protect the targeted student.
The letter also referenced previous requests made in letters sent in April, but said that this inquiry about antisemitism was unrelated. It also did not mention whether previous requests had been fulfilled or whether admissions and DEI issues had been resolved.
May 22
Ryan and Hardie were notified May 22 that the Justice Department was in the process of conducting a compliance review investigation of the University. The investigation focused on compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits a recipient of federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin. The letter also requested School of Medicine admissions information, policies and documents.
The letter said that if the Justice Department found the University to be in violation of Title VI, they would first work with the University to ensure compliance. However, the letter threatened that if the University did not voluntarily work with them to ensure compliance, the Justice Department would take formal action.
“If we cannot secure compliance by voluntary means, we may take formal action to secure compliance, which could include suspending, terminating, or refusing to grant or continue your federal financial assistance, as well as commencing a civil action,” Dhillon and Brown wrote.
June 16
The Department of Justice emailed Rachel Sheridan, the then-incoming Rector for the Board, for the first time June 16. In this letter, the Justice Department said that they had since received further complaints that Ryan, his administration and some faculty had engaged in attempts to avoid directives from the federal government and the Board.
The letter served as a formal notice that previous compliance reviews had been expanded to include all University admissions policies, as well as reviews of DEI policies and protection of students from antisemitism. The letter reiterated the threat made in the previous letter to suspend or terminate federal financial assistance or to commence a series of civil actions.
“The U.Va. Board of Visitors and the President of the University are public officials of the Commonwealth of Virginia who owe … duties of loyalty first and foremost to the Commonwealth, not the interests or ideologies of university administrators or faculty members,” the letter read.
June 17
The final letter turned up in the FOIA request was from June 17.
“Time is running short, and the Department’s patience is wearing thin,” the letter read.
The Justice Department claimed it had received another complaint from an active undergraduate student at the University about race-based admissions to the McIntire School of Commerce. The letter insisted that the Board take immediate corrective action towards compliance of federal laws.
“Dramatic, wholesale changes are required, now,” the Justice Department wrote. “To repair what appears to be a history of clear abuses and breaches of our nation's laws and our Constitution by the University of Virginia under its current administration.”
The letter said that if immediate action was not taken by the Board, the Justice Department would involve other federal agencies or terminate federal funding.
June 27
Ryan announced his resignation.
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