Letters to the Editor: Winter 2025

If a mugger demands your wallet, giving it to them is the correct thing to do. But it would be inaccurate to describe the encounter as a “fight.” UVA and President Ryan did the right thing to save the grants and the employees dependent on federal funds, but I think “The Fight for UVA” cover headline did not capture what occurred.

I very much appreciated your in-depth recap of the events leading to President Ryan’s resignation. If the nation succumbs to the rising tide of autocracy, it will be important for future generations to be able to look back and understand the thousand small cuts that contributed to the death of democracy in the U.S. At the very least, it is further evidence of the fact that we can no longer tacitly assume our elected leaders will abide by any sort of moral honor code, and must adjust our system of checks and balances accordingly.

Being funded by the government cuts both ways. Leftists may give you tons of support for DEI, and rightists might tell you to stop. If you want to be totally free to do what you want, stop taking money from the government.

In discussions of federal intervention with universities based on alleged antisemitism, I cannot understand the failure to note that antisemitism is not banned by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, only discrimination based on race, color and national origin. What the Trump administration is doing is claiming that, for example, UVA’s insufficient protection of Jewish students amounts to discrimination based on “national origin.” Judaism is not my national origin; my national origin is Ukraine. National origin is immutable; religion is not. 

The only cases where religion is considered an immutable “national origin” are those that are antisemitic. To the Nazis, to take the worst example, Jews were of a foreign origin, incapable of either ceasing immediately to be Jews or to be real Germans. To assert that our “national origin” is Jewish is to adopt old antisemitic views of Europeans that we were outsiders incapable of assimilation as members of the communities in which we lived.

The Trump administration’s pretense of protecting Jewish students is based on a deliberately wrong and antisemitic interpretation of Title VI. In addition, if pro-Palestinian students are denied First Amendment rights because of Jews, it’s going to increase rather than diminish whatever antisemitism is there. I suspect that the administration doesn’t really mind that.

This was a very sad article to read, in part because it was written in a neutral fashion that attempts to recount the events as though this was an inevitable and justified outcome.

For the past 40 years, I have been a proud graduate of the university. Its vision and diversity were critical factors that changed my life profoundly with a strong belief that inclusion is the best method for all of us to grow to our full potential. It is difficult to see politics taking such a brutal, evil and unrealistic stance on education.

I am ashamed that not only the Commonwealth but also the BOV have both fallen to their knees in the face of political pressure. The ghost of Jefferson himself is spinning in the grave with anger over their easy capitulation to corrupt principles and cronyism.

Today rather than pride in UVA, I feel deep shame for the cowardice that has been displayed.

Cheers to Mr. Ryan for fighting the correct and just fight for the university’s principles, students and faculty.

Ryan failed to execute the BOV directive and should have been fired. The university appears lost and will need strong leadership to course-correct. Far too many negative reports and headlines emanating from UVA. Fundraising and DEI do not make up for them. In fact, I wonder what influence those funds are buying. Enough of this already!

The Jefferson Council sent an email today stating that UVA’s FIRE ranking had fallen to No. 21 and blamed that drop from No. 1 on Jim Ryan and DEI. That’s preposterous! It’s fallen because the National Socialists have used the federal government as a weapon to extort his resignation, and the student body, alumni and faculty have objected to the opaque procedures of the right-wing BOV membership. To its credit, as good conservatives respecting the legacy of Thomas Jefferson, the Jefferson Council has voiced its objection to the proposed federalist compact with the Trump administration. If in fact the student body is 5:1 favoring liberal policies, is that all that unusual at a top-rated university, and wouldn’t they consider federal overreach into academia as a breach of freedom of speech? Of course the conservative students would!

We are real-time experiencing the erosion of erudition, culture and grace within our civic institutions—institutions that have long upheld our shared humanity through open dialogue, scientific inquiry and humility. Might I posit: The vulnerability and curiosity that it takes true leadership to guide our species into an exponentially changing world is in a free fall. The steel grip that Big Tech and capitalism have on our politics is abhorrent. It is my utmost hope in challenging the status quo, being courageous in deed and word, and raising children to do the same, that we can create tiny waves that generate big change. Thank you, Jim, for living and leading an exemplary presidency at UVA.

When I first read about Jim Ryan’s resignation, I was outraged, appalled and more than a little disappointed. When he was first appointed, I was curious and a little skeptical, but I grew to genuinely respect him. Jim was a rare talent and had accomplished really amazing things. His resignation in the face of outrageous and unfettered (not to mention illegal) attacks by the Justice Department would be called by the Jesuits (I suspect) “taking one for the good of the order.” I hope his sacrifice worked.

I’m not sure it will. At about the same time as the university attacks were going on, the same gang was doing the same at the Pentagon. Literally all the Joint Chiefs and almost every flag officer or commander who had ever signed off on any memo regarding DEI policy (handed down by the chief executive, their commander in chief) was summarily relieved and handed their retirement papers, all within the space of about one week. 

I can’t wait for 2028! I hope I make it.

I am saddened and dismayed by President Ryan’s departure. I fear for my country and am disgusted by the actions of the Trump administration. We are regressing as a country when respected academic institutions are pulled into the iron grip of politicians who have no intention of continuing scientific, medical and intellectual advancements, and seek only to repress them to gain power. I hope we can recover from this destruction and am horrified that President Ryan is collateral damage as the Trump administration continues its reign of intimidation.

University should be a time of interacting with people of diverse backgrounds and ideas, and expanding our view of everything. Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice.” As a world traveler, I agree. Interaction with people of diverse ideas (as is possible at UVA), as well as reading and exposure to a variety of cultural views (such as provided by PBS) are important.

President Ryan, with his support of DEI principles, was a wonderful leader for UVA. For such a person to have been forced out of his job by the Trump administration is a tragedy. The current administration seems afraid of free thinking and education. I hope UVA can continue to be a leading university that inspires growth in learning, exploring of and tolerance for ideas, and expanding awareness of the world and our place in it.

I was somewhat startled that the bullying that has been the most prominent feature of the current federal government administration surfaced so dramatically at the university. Our country has been playing catch-up for decades for righting the wrongs committed on African Americans and other minorities. Until we as a nation recognize that we have a very poor legacy and begin to balance the scales, we will never be “great.” 

America has been “greatest” when we have recognized the injustices in America and in the world and have labored to empathize and correct. America’s “great” programs provided for a balance to our citizens and to the rest of a world suffering hunger, limited water, disease and political injustices. Time to be great again: empathetic, sympathetic and positively responsive. President Jim Ryan embodied those attributes.

It is difficult to fathom, especially for this institution that taught the highest of ideals.

The political interference coming down from the president of the United States into the university’s internal affairs is unprecedented and unconscionable. Mr. Jefferson would be outraged and turning in his grave. I am shocked that the Board of Visitors did not take a unified stand to prevent Mr. Ryan’s resignation. If a university, even a public university, allows political interference in its internal affairs, what is the future of academic freedom in the United States?

I remember a few years ago, some Virginia politician tried to interfere with research results on climate warming being published by UVA faculty. That effort was soundly defeated by the university. I am saddened that in the present case, the university seems to have succumbed to outside interference.

A great show of objectivity, independence and support for Ryan by the UVA Alumni Association. Thanks!

I have been following the DOJ/Jim Ryan saga closely for many months. Your recent article and publication of comments, along with other nonpartisan UVA news items, indicate that my “gut feeling” was correct: A large majority of current students and alumni supported Jim Ryan and UVA, and this situation was created for political reasons by a small minority of alumni and non-UVA-connected politicians. 

I wrote to the Jefferson Council expressing my concerns about their role. They chose not to answer. The deeply distressing fact about this incident is that the small minority have successfully imposed their will on the large majority. This undemocratic process and attempt to turn back the clock is not what the university’s founder would have envisioned. It is especially galling that the council chose to hijack Thomas Jefferson’s name for their flawed initiative. The university will be worse off for their efforts, and UVA’s reputation as a top university will suffer. It is a sad outcome for a great institution.

I find it hard to say how sad I felt after reading the Summer 2025 issue.

Featured in the issue were articles on former President John T. Casteen III, and our then-President James E. Ryan’s commemorative letter on John Casteen. Also there was a long article on the defunding of science grants to the university.

Twenty-eight years ago, I took my older son on a visit to the university. That evening, I walked to the Lawn and marveled that I had spent four years amid this architectural treasure. Walking by the Lawn rooms, I saw a highly diverse group of students interacting. I thought to myself, “This is not the university I went to” … and thanked God for the change. In 1969, the University of Virginia, a state school, had Black student enrollment of 0.7 percent. UVA recruited at almost every prep school on the East Coast and no Black high schools in Virginia.

A great institution is being sacrificed on the false altar of anti-DEI and has lost a great president and unknown scientific and other funding to satisfy an administration’s whims.

I’m a proud graduate of the university and a formerly proud graduate school graduate of the University of Florida. I have watched UF crumble under Ron DeSantis. I fear for UVA. 

Painting the Beta Bridge was already a longstanding tradition when we came to visit our grandparents on University Circle back in the 1950s. And the paint was very thick and blistering when I was in school in the ’60s. It was happening long before the ’70s. Thank you for the article; everything has a history worth mentioning.

P.S. Beta Bridge was featured in a recent book by the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society in Clifton Forge, Virginia,  Chesapeake & Ohio Mainline Bridges, Richmond-Charlottesville-Clifton Forge.

I really loved your article about Beta Bridge and the regular molting. You only went back to 1994. My husband and I got married in August 1983 after my graduation from nursing school. We were graced with a message on Beta Bridge from the youth who went to our church.