In 2025, the University of Virginia saw the sudden resignation of one president and the installation of another under a cloud of concern from staff, faculty, and alumni. The area’s largest employer experienced a year of change as pressure from the second Trump presidency influenced the transition.
UVa’s ninth president, Jim Ryan, resigned suddenly on June 27 without providing much explanation after the New York Times reported he was under pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice to do so after a series of investigations related to the Trump administration’s disfavor of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
“I am inclined to fight for what I believe in, and I believe deeply in this University,” wrote Jim Ryan in an email sent out to UVA affiliates at 4:11 p.m. that afternoon. “But I cannot make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my own job.”
Ryan said he resigned in order to try to preserve the jobs of hundreds of people who would lose their employment if federal funding was withheld and hundreds of students who could not enroll if financial aid was removed.
The resignation came just before the beginning of Virginia’s new fiscal year and after the entire makeup of the Board of Visitors had been selected by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin.
The year ended with the appointment of the Dean of the Darden School of Business as the 10th president on the last day of the fall semester, a selection made by a Board of Visitors down to a dozen members after a Virginia Senate committee declined to confirm five of Youngkin’s nominees.
Business somewhat as usual?
From the perspective of a land use reporter, everything seemed fairly normal with operations at UVA as the year began.
One of the first signs of change at UVA came in January when University of Virginia Provost Ian Baucom announced he would be leaving to become president of Middlebury College in Vermont.
In March, the Advancement Committee of the Board of Visitors got an update on the Honor the Future campaign, an initiative started under the presidency of Jim Ryan. At the time, Mark Luellen was UVA’s vice president of advancement and at that point, he said there had been over 252,000 individual gifts.
“Ninety-seven percent of the total gifts have come from gifts of $10,000 or less and 94 percent are from $5,000 or less,” Luellen said.
Luellen would later report in June that the Honor the Future campaign had surpassed $6 billion. That same month, UVA announced another $50 million had been raised for the Paul and Diane Institute of Biotechnology.
The U.S. Department of Justice opened several investigations in the spring, after the Board of Visitors agreed to end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in March.
In March, the Buildings and Grounds Committee took a vote on an amendment to the Major Capital Plan to advance two projects at the North Fork Discovery Park.
BOV Member Bert Ellis once again said he would not vote for any spending until he saw budget reductions.
Soon afterward, Governor Glenn Youngkin removed Ellis from the Board of Visitors without providing specifics.
“While I thank you for your hard work, your conduct on many occasions has violated the Commonwealth’s Code of Conduct for our Boards and Commissions and the Board of Visitors’ Statement of Visitor Responsibilities,” Youngkin wrote in a March 26 letter.
A few hours later, Youngkin appointed former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
“As an alumnus who loves this university deeply, I’m committed to aggressively advancing plans to restore a culture of merit and end all forms of discrimination,” said Cuccinelli.
In late June, Youngkin appointed another four to the Board of Visitors, which in normal times would have meant he would have appointed all of its members by the end of his term.
However, earlier in the month, the Virginia Senate declined to confirm Cuccinelli’s appointment and filed suit against Robert Hardie, Rector of the Board of Visitors, after it came out that Attorney General Jason Miyares had provided legal advice arguing the members could continue to serve.
“The recommendation of a Senate committee cannot be elevated to an act of the General Assembly,” Miyares wrote on June 11. “Therefore, at this stage, it is premature to conclude, as a matter of law, that the General Assembly has refused the pending confirmations.”
Senator Scott Surovell (D-31), a member of the Senate Privileges and Elections committee responded in writing.
“While we are all aware that ignoring the Rule of Law seems to be en vogue among the current Administration in Washington, D.C. and Mr. Cuccinelli formerly served with President Trump, we honor the Rule of Law here in our Commonwealth as both the first colony in America and was founded which predated the current American constitutional order by twelve years,“ Surovell said.
After the resignation
After Ryan’s resignation, several groups responded with requests for investigations into the circumstances. They sought answers from the Board of Visitors and incoming Rector Rachel Sheridan.
“The Trump administration has reportedly been unhappy with James Ryan’s support for the bedrock values of academic freedom, shared governance, diversity, and equal access,” said George Mason University Associate Professor Dr. Timothy Gibson, president of the Virginia Conference of the American Association of University Professors.
J.J. Davis, UVA’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, became the acting president when Ryan’s resignation was effective.
The Board of Visitors met in early August to discuss the presidential search without Cuccinnelli after a Fairfax County Circuit Judge upheld a preliminary injunction filed by the Democratic Senators. The remaining Board members appointed Paul Mahoney, a UVA School of Law professor, as interim president.
“I thank the board for the trust they have placed in me, and for arriving at this decision in a manner consistent with the University’s core values of shared governance, academic freedom and student self-governance,” Mahoney said.
The four members appointed by Youngkin in June were present at this meeting, but their nominations were also not confirmed and they were not present at the September meeting.
Several groups at UVA critiqued the Board for naming an interim president including at an August 6 press conference.
“This appointment was not an example of shared governance but the result of a closed and exclusionary process masquerading as inclusion,” Ian Mullins, an associate professor of sociology and member of the Faculty Committee of the United Campus Workers at UVA. “It was designed to pre-screen participation, silence dissent, and provide the appearance — not the reality — of democratic input.”
An attempt at a new normal?
Despite the leadership controversy, other business at UVA moved on. In September, Mark Luellen had a new job title of Senior Vice President for External Relations and he told the Board of Visitors Finance Committee that fundraising was strong in FY2025.
“It was the eighth year in a row that we surpassed $500 million in total commitments and ended up with 886 million in total commitments for the fiscal year, which is the highest number that we’ve ever had in the university’s history,” Luellen said.
On October 1, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon wrote a letter to several universities across the nation urging them to enter into a “Compact for Academic Excellence” in exchange for funding and other guarantees. That included the University of Virginia.
Provisions in the compact included eliminating departments that “purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas” and freezing tuition rates for five years. International students would be capped at fifteen percent of total enrollment.
Both the Student Council and the Faculty Senate urged UVA leadership to refuse to sign.
“Although the compact’s full implications remain unclear, the document outlines unprecedented expectations universities must meet to receive federal benefits,” reads the letter signed by Clay Dickerson, Student Council President and student leadership at six other universities. “This could systemically alter the mission of higher education and erode the independence that has long defined our universities.”
On October 17, hundreds of people attended a rally on the University of Virginia Lawn. Soon after, Mahoney sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education declining the invitation to enter into the compact.
“A contractual arrangement predicating assessment on anything other than merit will undermine the integrity of vital, sometimes lifesaving, research and further erode confidence in American higher education,” reads Mahoney’s letter.
However, Mahoney had agreed on October 22 to a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice that was opposed by the Faculty Senate and on other groups.
On November 4, Democrat Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Winsome Earle-Sears to be the 75th Governor of Virginia. Eight days later, she sent a letter to the Board of Visitors asking for the presidential search to be put on pause.
“Over the past six months, the actions of the Board of Visitors have severely undermined the public’s and the University community’s confidence in the Board’s ability to govern productively, transparently, and in the best interests of the University,” Spanberger wrote.
In his own letter, Youngkin defended the presidential search that is underway and accused Spanberger of jumping to conclusions about the circumstance in which Ryan resigned.
“Make no mistake, the [Department of Justice] did not randomly or without a predicate select UVA when it started its formal investigation,” Youngkin said. “The evidence is compelling that the University has repeatedly ignored the law.”
Around this same time, both Rector Rachel Sheridan and former President Jim Ryan circulated competing accounts of how the resignation came about, accounts which are sure to be studied and reviewed into the future. Here’s an article I wrote that attempted to summarize.
In December, the Board of Visitors met again for a regular meeting and the presidential search was not on the official agenda outside of closed sessions.
Seven of the 12 remaining BOV members also sat on the presidential search committee which met on December 11. Around the same time, two full Board meetings were scheduled for December 19 and January 6. Scott Beardsley of Darden was named at the conclusion of the December 19 meeting.
UVA put out a press release at 3:46 p.m. on December 19 with comments from Beardsley.
“As president, I embrace the responsibility of carrying forward that legacy while advancing UVA’s mission and ensuring we are prepared for the evolving landscape of higher education and health care,” Beardsley is quoted. “I am committed to excellence and bringing a results-driven and student-centered approach to promote the University’s academic excellence, faculty strength, exceptional patient care, financial sustainability, public service mission, and impact for the long term.”
The group Wahoos 4 UVA issued a statement immediately following the announcement expressing disappointment in what they argue is a rushed process that lacked transparency.
“Alumni, faculty, students, members of the General Assembly, and nine of UVA’s deans urged the Board to wait,” reads their statement. “Not because they opposed any of the candidates — to the degree the identities of top candidates were known — but rather, because they understood that process and legitimacy matter, and that leadership of a public university must begin with trust.”
The group’s statement said Beardsley might have the qualities to be president, but by accepting the position he begins from a position of distrust.
What will happen in 2026? The Board of Visitors next meet on January 6.
There were other personnel moves worth noting:
- The University of Virginia Foundation appointed Chief Administrative Officer Deborah van Eersel to succeed Tim Rose as Chief Executive Officer. (read the story)
- Lois Stanley, vice president for campus planning and operations at Brandeis University, was named as senior vice president for operations at the University of Virginia in mid-August. (read the story)
Land use items
UVA continued a review of what they might do with a 5.2 acre property in Fifeville called Oak Lawn that the school purchased for $3.5 million. As part of the work, UVA commissioned the firms of John G. Waite Associates, Architects and Liz Sargent Historic Landscape Architecture to produce a Historic Structure Report and Cultural Landscape Report. This was the subject of an open house in April.
By September, UVA’s Board of Visitors was asked if they would consider leasing the property to the City of Charlottesville.
“As you know, they were highly disappointed in not being able to acquire the FEI property,” said J.J. Davis, executive vice president and chief operating office. “So you tasked us all with the challenge of is there an approach here for a win win?”
UVA purchased the land with the idea of using it for a child care facility and a planning study was conducted.
“The planning study at the UVA side sort of suggested this was much more complicated and further down on the priority list,” Davis said.
One item remaining to be planned in the Emmet Ivy Corridor is the Center for Performing Arts. Buildings and Grounds Chair John Nau expressed concerns about its cost and scope in March. The General Assembly included money to build the center in its version of the budget, but Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed that spending. What will happen in 2026?
Before you go: Paid subscribers cover the cost of conducting research for all articles on this website. This edition was originally published on January 2, 2026 on Charlottesville Community Engagement. You can either subscribe through Substack, make a monthly contribution through Patreon, or consider becoming a sponsor. The goal of Town Crier Productions is to increase awareness about what is happening at the local, regional, state, and federal government levels. Please share the work with others if you want people to know things.
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