On June 27th, local time, James Ryan, the President of Virginia University in the United States, informed the Board of Trustees that he would resign in response to the Trump administration’s request to step down to assist with the investigation into the university’s efforts towards diversity, fairness, and inclusion.
The Board of Trustees has accepted Ryan’s resignation to avoid the impact on millions of dollars in federal funding.
Virginia University is a prominent public university in the United States. Since taking office as the president in 2018, Ryan has actively implemented policies promoting “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” which has sparked dissatisfaction among conservative alumni.
On January 20th, during his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order to repeal the federal government’s “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policy, describing these initiatives as “radical” and “wasteful,” and targeting some American universities. Prior to this, the Trump administration had initiated investigations into prestigious American institutions such as Harvard University and Columbia University. (CCTV Reporter Xu Dezhi)