After submitting a six-section Freedom of Information Act Request to the University Sept. 18, State Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, received 284 pages of records Oct. 29, pertaining to former University President Jim Ryan’s resignation this summer.
Among these documents were several public records, including community announcements surrounding Ryan’s resignation and letters from the Justice Department. They also included previously unreleased records such as text messages and emails between Board of Visitors members and Ryan’s internal letter of resignation sent to then-Rector Robert Hardie.
Deeds provided these documents to The Cavalier Daily, which has submitted 25 FOIA requests of its own but has not received any records since July 1. Below is a summary of the new information regarding Ryan’s resignation that The Cavalier Daily found after reviewing all 284 pages of the records.
The full records can be viewed here.
Ryan’s internal resignation letter
Ryan resigned June 26, via an email sent to Hardie and carbon copied to current Rector Rachel Sheridan. Although he publicly released an announcement of his resignation to the University community June 27, the University previously declined to release the private email to The Cavalier Daily, citing an exemption for “presidential correspondence.” Ryan told the community that he had planned to step down at the end of the next academic year before challenges regarding the Justice Department began, and the internal letter added that he believed this would lead to a calmer transition.
“I also believed, and continue to do so, that this would allow for an orderly transition to the next administration, avoid the disruption that comes from a fairly sudden departure and would be in keeping with traditional practices of universities, including ours,” Ryan wrote.
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