The United Campus Workers of Virginia union (UCWVA) is plotting a “movement against authoritarian interference” to effect a “Mother” Teresa-Sullivan-like reinstatement for the University of Virginia’s (UVA) soon-to-be-former president, “Diamond” Jim Ryan.
The UCWV credits Ryan with promoting “academic independence” and “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI); his endorsement of the latter being a key factor in his departure. It was Ryan’s intransigence on the illegal practice that brought him and the University to the attention of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).
In contravention of President Trump’s Executive Orders regarding illegal DEI preferencing in schools, Ryan refused to dismantle UVA’s extensive DEI conglomeration, instead renaming, reorganizing, and otherwise reconfiguring the existing programs into newer, more innocuous-sounding entities. Same snake, different skin.
The union’s online survey seeks input on reinstating Ryan, tasking the “UVA community” with selecting the next president, firing the Board of Visitors (BOV), and more. These actions are proposed to be accomplished via petition, widening protests, and the harassing of BOV members individually.
Ryan, who has presided over a disastrous tenure at UVA likely has been plotting his escape for months and almost undoubtedly will land softly into another over-compensated, high-level academic position.
UVA’s BOV has a monumental task ahead of them in appointing Ryan’s successor. Pressure to seat another progressive pedagog will be intense. But, if the Visitors display fortitude in their selection, the entire corrupt University of Virginia culture could be righted in a relatively short time.
Looming over the situation is Virginia’s November gubernatorial election between Deep State Democrat Abigail Spanberger and her Republican counterpart, Winsome Earl-Sears. Sadly, political winds and political acumen favor Spanberger, and if she is elected, all bets for long-term change at UVA are off.
Read the UCWVA letter:
Dear Colleague,
Yesterday, President Jim Ryan resigned in response to authoritarian pressure from the Trump administration. President Ryan had stood up for academic independence and stood by the project of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In response to President Ryan not bending the knee, Governor Youngkin has sought to appoint BOV members that would fire President Ryan.
We do not need agreement across the board with President Ryan to know that the democratic project of public higher education in Virginia is undermined by this authoritarian imposition.
This is our university, and we have the power. In 2012, Teresa Sullivan met the same fate – and two weeks later, thanks to faculty mobilization, she was reinstated. You have the power to do what the BoV won’t, but only if you and all your colleagues and all the rest of us get organized. I’m writing you as a member of the United Campus Workers of Virginia, our union, to ask you to:
- Join UCWVA
- If you join and are willing to fight this, fill out this 3-5 minute google form
- If you are faculty, come to an all-faculty town hall next Wednesday, July 2, 1-2:30pm and make sure your colleagues also attend the town hall
- If you are not faculty, email ucwatuva@gmail.com when you join to get in touch with the staff or grad organizers
Faculty are already in motion across the university. But without you stepping up to organize the resistance, a faculty town hall is as far as we’ll get, and we can be sure that our next President will be hand-picked by the same authoritarian forces seeking to spread the overreach deeper and further into our university. Now is the time to organize.
In solidarity,
Your coworkers, friends, and neighbors in UCWVA
