Six months have passed since President Donald Trump used an executive order to close a government agency hired to train people to work for the federal government.
“We believe great leaders can transform and improve government to best serve the American people,” reads the Internet Archive’s screenshot of the FEI website from January 13, 2025. “With more than 50 years of experience in leadership development, our curriculum challenges individuals to cultivate the skills, attitudes, and behaviors critical to dynamic and transformational public-sector leadership.”
Five months have passed since the Federal Executive Institute closed the doors of its headquarters on Emmet Street.
“Eliminating the Federal Executive Institute is part of President Trump’s broader mission to reform the federal bureaucracy, including by ending ineffective government programs that drain resources and empower government without achieving measurable results,” reads a portion of the executive order.
Soon afterward, the 14.5 acre property was deemed as surplus and offered up to other government entities for a free transfer. Both the City of Charlottesville and the University of Virginia submitted applications.
Charlottesville’s bid to use the site to house an early education center was initially accepted but eight days later the Department of Education changed their mind and gave the property to UVA instead.
The transfer is now complete.
“On August 1, 2025, the deed was filed with the City of Charlottesville Circuit Court Clerk and the property transferred from the U.S. Department of Education to the University of Virginia,” said Bethanie Glover, deputy spokesperson with UVA Communications. “The deed requires UVA to operate the property for at least the next 30 years and provide annual operational progress reports to the U.S. Department of Education.”
The deed states that the property must be used for UVA’s Reserve Offices Training Corps programs as well as the School of Continuing and Professional Studies.
“UVA remains steadfast in its commitment to public service through existing collaborations with the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County,” Glover continued.
One venue for those collaborations has been the President’s Council on UVA-Community Partnerships. This was an initiative introduced by former President Jim Ryan. The website has not been updated to reflect his resignation.
Before you go: This story was first posted in the August 4, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement and then published here the next morning. There will be an audio version that will air on WTJU on Saturday morning and will be posted in the eventual podcast.
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