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UVA President’s Resignation Reflects a New Front in Trump’s Bid to Remake Higher Education
The Trump administration is ramping up its battle against DEI practices at universities—and the University of Virginia’s president was the first big casualty. UVA President James E. Ryan told the school community Friday that he had resigned amid tension with the Trump administration. Ryan had come under scrutiny over what the Justice Department said was his refusal to dismantle the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs, according to a person familiar with the matter. . . . The Trump administration’s pressure on UVA reflects a broadening of the government campaign to remake higher education, moving beyond accusations of antisemitism into a wider attack on DEI.
University of Virginia President Resigns Under Pressure From Trump Administration
The Trump administration on Friday secured perhaps the most significant victory in its pressure campaign on higher education, forcing the resignation of the University of Virginia’s president, James E. Ryan, over the college’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The extraordinary wielding of federal power to oust the 58-year-old college president showed the unusual lengths the administration would go to pursue President Trump’s political agenda and shift the ideological tilt of academia, which he views as hostile to conservatives. Mr. Ryan’s resignation also presents new challenges for other colleges negotiating with the government, including Harvard, ...
U-Va. president resigns amid Trump administration pressure
University of Virginia President James E. Ryan resigned Friday, a decision he said he took to try to spare the university a costly fight with the Trump administration amid pressure over diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Justice Department officials had previously told Ryan they’d like him to step down, a person familiar with the matter said. The agency declined to comment Friday. In a note to the community, Ryan said he worried that trying to save his own job to fight the federal government would harm U-Va. researchers reliant on federal funding and students who could lose financial aid or their visas.
Schools in Hampton Roads region brace for potential federal cuts, explore block grants
As the federal government considers transitioning from using a funding formula to dole out money to public schools nationwide to providing block grants instead, the proposition is stirring debate among Virginia lawmakers and education leaders. A House of Delegates committee and school leaders convened last week to talk about the possible shift in education funding and the continued impacts of federal funding cuts statewide. Supporters of block grants, or large sums of federal funding, argue that they would give states more flexibility to address individual issues. Critics, meanwhile, are concerned about whether the block grants would be appropriately and equitably distributed, including to English learners and at-risk students from low-income families.
Yancey: We almost ran out of power this week. Congress is trying to make it harder to get new power onto the grid.
We got through the week without any blackouts. That shouldn’t be news, but it is. Three times this week PJM Interconnection, which runs the 13-state (plus District of Columbia) electric grid that Virginia is part of, issued a “Maximum Generation Alert,” in which it instructed utilities to crank out as much power as possible. That was the fourth such alert this year, twice as many as last year. The prompt this week was a brutal heat wave, but those triple-digit temperatures came on top of electric demand that was rising anyway, due primarily to the growth of energy-guzzling data centers.
Luray will stop adding fluoride to drinking water
On Thursday, the Town of Luray issued a notice to all residents and municipal water customers that the long-held practice of adding fluoride to the Town’s drinking water will cease in September. “Based on significant discussions and updates by Town staff, the Town Council [has] elected to discontinue the addition of fluoride to its drinking water,” the Town’s June 26 notice states. ... While the benefits of adding fluoride to public drinking water to aid in dental health has been debated since the practice began in the United States in 1945, the Town of Luray started the practice about a quarter century ago. The key benefit was aimed at preventing tooth decay.
Chesterfield supervisors approve incentive agreements for data center projects
While some mystery remains over who exactly is behind them, two sizable data center developments planned for western Chesterfield are now eligible for an extra financial boost from the county. The Board of Supervisors this week unanimously approved tax incentive agreements for the EDA-initiated projects at sites near Moseley and Westchester Commons. The agreements lock in the county’s personal property tax rate for the code-named data center projects at the current 24 cents per $100 of assessed value for a 30-year period.
‘Forever chemicals’ mar pristine reputation of Virginia’s Chickahominy River
The Chickahominy River in Virginia is known for its physical beauty, with bald cypress trees and lily pads decorating the water that meanders through largely undeveloped acres of forests and wetlands. But the river’s appearance tells only part of the story. In May, the Virginia Department of Health issued its first fish consumption advisory for the presence of harmful chemicals in the Chickahominy River, which is a James River tributary, and the White Oak Swamp where its waters originate. The advisory notifies the public of the risk of exposure to PFOS, a so-called “forever chemical,” by eating too many (or, in some cases, any) of some fish species from the waterway.
‘Hallowed ground, desecrated’: ICE sweeps at Chesterfield court draw fierce backlash
Jessica Schneider, a member of Chesterfield County’s Board of Supervisors, was about to address a growing crowd of people protesting area immigration raids outside the Chesterfield County Courthouse Wednesday morning when her phone buzzed with news that visibly shook her. Another immigrant, Salvador Calderon-Cuella — whose immigration status remains unclear at this time — had just been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and quietly whisked away through the courthouse’s back entrance. Calderon-Cuellar had pleaded guilty in April to two misdemeanor traffic offenses — driving without a license and failing to yield when entering a highway. The fines totaled $130, according to Chesterfield General District Court records. On Wednesday, he arrived at the court to make the payment.
DOJ officials call for UVa President Jim Ryan to resign
In an unprecedented move, U.S. Department of Justice officials are calling on University of Virginia President Jim Ryan to resign, saying he has slow-walked the removal of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the school and misrepresented the steps UVa has taken to end them. DOJ officials have asked Ryan to step down on multiple occasions, as first reported by the New York Times on Thursday. The DOJ did not immediately respond a Daily Progress request for confirmation.