As part of a new deal with the Trump administration, the University of Virginia won’t have to pay money. It won’t have to write apology letters or adopt any specific policies. Several federal investigations into its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts have been halted.
The university will have to report back regularly to the Justice Department on compliance with civil-rights law. Even there, the details are scant — a contrast with previous agreements between Trump and colleges.
Wednesday’s announcement was met with a mixture of relief and wariness from academe. On the one hand, UVa was not hit with a financial penalty and did not have to admit to any wrongdoing or submit to an external monitor. On the other hand, the university has committed to an interpretation of law — one that deems many programs referencing race and identity to be discriminatory — that some critics say draws inaccurate conclusions from the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. And that, opponents say, threatens the independence of a leading public institution.
So what changes, if any, will UVa have to make to satisfy the federal government? Here’s what we know.
Why was the Department of Justice interested in UVa?
Over the years, UVa’s DEI apparatus has grown significantly. In 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, the university committed to increasing faculty and student diversity, reevaluating monuments to controversial figures from its past, giving the vice president for diversity more resources, and developing educational programs on racial equity.
In 2023, UVa had 55 dedicated DEI positions with an annual budget totaling nearly $6 million. In 2024, a university official said the DEI office’s budget was $7.5 million, including staff dedicated to a growing caseload of discrimination investigations. (A spokesman didn’t have an updated dollar amount on Thursday.)
But this year, the political tides shifted and UVa had to adjust. Its board dissolved the central DEI office and moved programs and staff around. That wasn’t enough for the Justice Department, which insisted UVa comply with President Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders and prove it had completely done away with its DEI efforts. The board rescinded some enrollment and hiring targets, but the federal pressure campaign continued, and at one point there were seven investigations into UVa.
Over the summer, UVa’s president of seven years, James E. Ryan, resigned on the premise that it was a necessary step for overcoming the DOJ’s scrutiny. Paul Mahoney, a former dean of the law school, took over as interim president and shepherded the university through negotiations with the Trump administration.
What are the terms of the agreement?
The Justice Department is suspending its probe into UVa so long as the university complies with civil-rights law and follows, where applicable, the department’s July guidance on “unlawful discrimination.” The guidance states that the 2023 Supreme Court decision ending race-conscious admissions effectively bans a wide variety of DEI practices — including identity-based facilities, certain affinity groups, and criteria used as a proxy for race.
The university must submit quarterly compliance reports until the end of 2028, and if the Justice Department believes the institution has fallen short, UVa will have 15 days to fix the issues. After that period passes, the government could void the agreement, and UVa could face financial penalties.
UVa will not need to make changes in areas where there is an intervening federal court decision — as there is in the Fourth Circuit with regard to transgender students and the use of bathrooms that align with their gender.
What DEI programs will UVa need to end, if any?
It’s unclear, and the university isn’t saying. The university still runs a number of support programs targeted at LGBTQ students and Black students, among others, and there are multicultural and interfaith centers.
Eddie R. Cole, a professor of education and history at the University of California at Los Angeles, said the vague language of the agreement leaves “a crack in the door open” for the federal government to scope out how well UVa is meeting the attorney general’s interpretation of civil-rights law.
Walt Heinecke, a professor in the School of Education and past president of the American Association of University Professors chapter at UVa, said the university appears to be adopting Trump’s suggestions of what counts as discrimination as its own internal policy.
“The agreement basically makes perpetual oversight and micromanagement of the Department of Justice and the administration a permanent fixture” of life on campus, Heinecke said. “It just continues to create an ongoing climate of fear and repression. Every certification period that comes up is going to have some kind of effect on the behavior of faculty, students, and staff. It’s going to promote self-censorship and it’s going to promote caution.”
The agreement includes language that the government will not interfere with academic speech or the curriculum.
What’s next?
In a statement Thursday, Ann Brown and Chris Ford, the chairs of Wahoos 4 UVA, an activist group made up of alumni, students, parents, faculty, and staff, condemned the agreement as a sacrifice of independence.
The Faculty Senate will discuss the deal at a meeting Friday.
Heinecke, the UVa faculty leader, called the agreement a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and said there may be legal challenges.
“It is in some ways worse than the compact and in some ways better,” Heinecke said, referring to the Trump administration’s proposed Compact for American Excellence in Higher Education, which UVa declined last week. “It’s aiming to obtain the same kind of obeisance.”
Cole of UCLA said his own university system is likely looking at UVa as it charts a path forward amid investigations by the Trump administration.
The first public institution to take this step “feels in a lot of ways like the snowflake that turns into a snowball that turns into an avalanche,” Cole said.
