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The University of Virginia has reached an agreement with the Trump administration that will pause the government's investigation into what it alleged were civil rights violations. The University of Virginia has reached an agreement with the government that will halt the Trump administration’s investigations of what it alleged were various civil rights violations. The agreement was announced by the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday afternoon. Under the terms of the deal, UVA agrees to comply with the Department ’s “Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination," assuring that it does not engage in racial discrimination in its programming, admissions, hiring, or other activities. The university must provide information and data regarding these issues to the Department of Justice on a quarterly basis through 2028, and UVA’s president is required to “personally certify each quarter that UVA is in compliance with the agreement.” UVA became a target of the Trump administration last spring when the Justice Department began investigating various aspects of its admissions and financial aid processes. That investigation ultimately resulted in a decision last July by then UVA president Jim Ryan to step down from his post. Ryan, a popular and effective president for the university, had been under intense pressure from the Trump administration to resign in part because of his leadership on behalf of the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which the administration claimed violated federal civil-rights law. “To make a long story short, I am inclined to fight for what I believe in, and I believe deeply in this University. But I cannot make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my own job," Ryan said when he announced his intent to resign. “To do so would not only be quixotic but appear selfish and self-centered to the hundreds of employees who would lose their jobs, the researchers who would lose their funding, and the hundreds of students who could lose financial aid or have their visas withheld.” MORE FOR YOU UVA becomes the first pubic university to reach a deal with the administration, which has conducted high-pressure campaigns against several other institutions, involving the freezing of all or most of their federal research funds over allegations of violations of civil rights laws or other typically unproven accusations. Columbia University, Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania have all reached agreements with the administration. Columbia paid $221 million as part of its resolution. Brown struck a $50 million deal to resolve its dispute. Penn did not pay a monetary settlement as part of its agreement to no longer permit transgender athletes to compete in female varsity sports. Cornell, Harvard and UCLA are reported to be in discussions about possible settlements, with much attention focused on whether Harvard, which has been under a multi-front siege by the government and posted a $113 million operating deficit in FY 2025, will settle and pony up the $500 million Trump has reportedly demanded. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said the UVA agreement "will protect students and faculty from unlawful discrimination, ensuring that equal opportunity and fairness are restored. We appreciate the progress that the university has made in combatting antisemitism and racial bias, and other American universities should be on alert that the Justice Department will ensure that our federal civil rights laws are enforced for every American, without exception.” The settlement makes UVA eligible for future federal grants and awards, and the Justice Department indicated that if the university “completes its planned reforms prohibiting DEI at the university, the Department will close its investigations against UVA.” Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
