LETTER: An alumnus and parent’s perspective on U.Va.’s presidential search process
I am an alumnus of the University and the father of two University alumnae. I care deeply about this place.
Recently, there have been several articles from The Cavalier Daily concerning former University President Jim Ryan’s resignation and the Faculty Senate’s public proclamations — criticizing Interim President Paul Mahoney’s conduct as well as demanding that Rector Rachel Sheridan and Vice Rector Porter Wilkinson resign. I differ with these criticisms. Contrary to the prevailing conclusions presented by The Cavalier Daily and Faculty Senate, I offer that moderate and conservative viewpoints were suppressed under Ryan. The Faculty Senate only seems tolerant of those who agree with their progressive perspective. That’s not intellectual diversity.
An independent study by the Heritage Foundation in 2021 showed the University had the second largest university DEI bureaucracy in America. By his own admission, Ryan chose not to respond to Justice Department either rationalizing the University’s extensive DEI personnel overhead or explaining how he would dismantle the bureaucracy to respond to the DOJ edict. That is not leadership.
Mahoney’s DOJ actions should be deemed a victory for the University, retaining hundreds of millions in federal grant dollars. This NPR article cites a quote from Mahoney that succinctly sums up his decision: “Fairly or unfairly, the DOJ believed that the University had not cooperated with it in the early stages of those investigations. That was the situation I inherited, and certainly not the one I would have wished for.”
