'We are alarmed': University staff condemn Trump DOJ as president forced out

More than 100 professors and staff from the University of Virginia signed an open letter on Friday opposing the efforts of the Department of Justice to force out university president Jim Ryan.

Ryan was the subject of a pressure campaign mounted by the Justice Department's two top civil rights lawyers, Harmeet Dillon and Gregory Brown. The two layers reportedly asked Ryan to resign to resolve a federal inquiry into whether the university had shut down its diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, programs.

The New York Times reported that Ryan submitted his letter of resignation on Thursday and expressed "deep sadness" about his decision.

"We are alarmed by the attempted use of government power to impose an ideological agenda on an institution with a proud, 206-year tradition of liberty in thought and expression," the letter reads in part.

"The forced installation of a new president under these circumstances would impede the exchange of ideas, set a dangerous precedent for the destruction of academic freedom, and cast a shadow on the integrity of the research and teaching conducted at the university," it continues.

The Trump administration has sought to influence how public universities operate since he began his second term in the White House. For instance, his administration has moved to cancel billions in federal grants to universities like Harvard University, Duke University, and many others. Trump also signed an executive order seeking to prohibit these institutions from practicing DEI, which he described as "unlawful discrimination and ideological overreach."

UVA staff called on Ryan and university board members to "resist this inappropriate demand by officials of the federal government."