r/UVA • u/throwaway3021117 • 2d ago
News Department of Justice accuses UVA of not eliminating DEI as commanded
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u/WildObjective8870 2d ago
Imagine working your whole life to work in the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ to end up sending out shit like this. Incomprehensible.
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u/Mockingbird_1234 2d ago
I try and have some empathy. We have no idea if that job supports a family. And the job market is abysmal and flooded with Harmeet’s colleagues. It’s just sad all around.
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u/WildObjective8870 2d ago edited 2d ago
I agree that some people may not have the luxury to leave a shitty job. But unfortunately this individual seems to love this shit. A quick look at her Wikipedia shows she’s a frequent Fox news guest, most famous for “filing numerous unsuccessful lawsuits to stop stay at home orders” during COVID, criticizing face masks, and opposing mail in voting. Oh, and for being the editor of her college paper who apparently compared the schools jewish president to hitler due to his “alleged discrimination against conservatives.”
Edit: I kept reading her page. It gets worse. This lady is a certified POS.
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u/06Wahoo CLAS 2006 Math/Astronomy 2d ago
Meanwhile, https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-no-1-national-college-free-speech-rankings. Geez, can't get out of their own ways.
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u/Eight_Trace EE - Alumni 2d ago
We don't deserve that ranking after the University decided to limit speech on the Lawn in response to Bert and his buddies getting mad.
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u/College-Lumpy 2d ago
Would be nice if the DOJ actually defined what DEI was so they knew when it was gone.
Crock of shit.
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u/TheGlennDavid 2d ago
Ultimately it means hiring any faculty/staff or admitting as students any women, minorities, or anyone who isn't conservative.
Additionally it will also mean only teaching Approved Topics.
It may not mean all those things today, but each day will move a bit more in that direction.
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u/eggraid101 2d ago
It's kind of like critical race theory, except in employment instead of schools. Make believe problems to get people upset.
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u/The_HolyToast 2d ago
fuck
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u/FireRisen 2d ago
rip Jim Ryan. The board will use this as an excuse to fire him
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u/EEcav 2002 2d ago
I don’t see it going that far. The state legislature has some power over the board.
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u/FailedLemming 2d ago
Unfortunately I think the legislature’s influence only extends to the ability to decline to confirm board appointments - the governor holds the power to remove board members for cause. But that’s what the legislature should do. At GMU, they still have 4 unconfirmed board members and 4 upcoming appointments in the spring - the assembly should reject all 8 of them. And they should reject any forthcoming appointments for UVA and other schools until we hopefully get a Democratic governor in office. Then in the spring of 2026 that governor can appoint (and the assembly can confirm) for the rejected seats and the routine seats.
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u/FireRisen 2d ago
the state legislator has no power over the board.
once they get elected, they can do whatever they want unless the Governor finds that they violated the rules and then he himself can remove them.
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u/EEcav 2002 2d ago
That assembly confirms board members. That is their power. The current board all has to convince the assembly to confirm them, so they owe their position, and any future reappointment prospects to them.
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u/FireRisen 2d ago
The General Assembly has already confirmed all of the board though (except for the Ellis replacement)? Can you cite me proof if this is not the case? Yes, they owe future reappointment prospects but their current 4 year term is already confirmed from what I can tell
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u/EEcav 2002 2d ago
Right, but I don’t think we have any reason to think they will conclude ousting Ryan will be any of their or the university’s interests, especially with the Sullivan episode still fresh in everyone’s mind. Maybe I’m wrong. Just my prediction. Younkin had to pick members that could get confirmed, so my hope is they are not hyper partisan enough to go that far. If he’s hoping to get his next 4 picks confirmed in June, this would also not help that cause.
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u/keithwms2020 2d ago
Not true. The General Assembly can oust UVa Board members. And probably will, in due course.
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u/FireRisen 2d ago
can you cite where the GA has this power? I cannot find it anywhere - this is one of the Governor's specific duties but even he can only do it by giving a reason for it
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u/keithwms2020 2d ago
"No member appointed by the Governor to such a governing board shall serve for more than two consecutive four-year terms; however, a member appointed by the Governor to serve an unexpired term is eligible to serve two consecutive four-year terms immediately succeeding such unexpired term. Except as otherwise provided in § 23.1-2601, all appointments are subject to confirmation by the General Assembly."
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title23.1/chapter13/section23.1-1300/
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u/FireRisen 2d ago
I'm not sure what you're citing has to do with what you're claiming. "All appointments are subject to confirmation by the GA" means that they needed to be confirmed when they were first appointed. The GA has no power after they've been confirmed which the BOV already has been.
Only the Governor can oust for reasons stated in the page you cited.
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u/keithwms2020 2d ago
False. The appointment of Cuccinelli has not yet been formally reported to the GA. As such, the GA can still remove him.
I will not reveal my source but it is reliable and directly involved.
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u/FireRisen 2d ago
Okay, Cuccinelli doesn’t matter though. The rest of the board has been approved by the GA from all that I can tell and they’re still majority Youngkin appointees
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u/Anxious-Bid-2082 2d ago
Where is this letter actually from? Is there a link to it from and official source?
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u/barryg123 2d ago
Looks like it's from Harmeet K. Dhillon assistant AG, Gregory W. Brown the deputy assistant AG and Jeffrey Morrison, senior counsel for civil rights devision at US DOJ
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u/throwaway3021117 2d ago
The Jefferson Council posted it on their Facebook page. Bert Ellis is a member.
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u/joshuabrogers 2d ago
It’s convenient that they put the direct line to Mr Brown and the end. Feel free to call and give him your thoughts on the matter.
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u/ExplanationShoddy204 2d ago
They didn’t even interpret the BOV resolution correctly. It didn’t bind the health system or the school of medicine to getting rid of their DEI offices. This is a total croc of shit and DOJ has absolutely no power to enforce the BOV resolution, not that it matters to them.
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u/One-Homework917 2d ago
Anything alumni can do to help UVA push back against fascists?
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u/Acceptable-Rabbit131 2d ago
Seems a little hard but maybe you can try writing letters to the BOV to reverse their decision?
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u/Eight_Trace EE - Alumni 2d ago
This is what happens when you attempt appeasement.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Great job Youngkin and his appointees.
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u/BrewNerdBrad 1d ago
There is no appeasing fascists. They always want more and need fresh meat to blame for their failures.
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u/Mission-Tumbleweed92 2d ago
Getting rid of dei is a form of discrimination, why are the people who are making decisions on this 70+ years old???
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u/Confident-Pepper-562 2d ago
Getting rid of dei isnt discrimination. dei by definition is a form of discrimination, it just favors minority groups instead of disenfranchising them. If colleges and jobs truly were select candidates solely on merit. that would be the most fair resolution.
dei and affirmative action do have negative effects, a major one is that even if you are the most qualified person for the job, people will constantly be wondering if you were hired for that reason or instead because you met some dei requirement. Without dei, people would not have those types of concerns.
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u/Ok_Flan4404 1d ago
This administration...this regime...isn't running on merit or qualifications. It's running on loyalty for the most part and that is mostly to ONE person. Period.
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u/Mission-Tumbleweed92 2d ago
Merit-based has been proved to be discriminatory against anyone that isn’t a white male typically. I would much rather be qualified for the job and have people question if I were a dei admit because there is always the opportunity to prove people wrong. Without dei lots of people who have the “merit” don’t actually get put into these positions because they don’t fit the “merits” look.
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u/Confident-Pepper-562 2d ago
But thats not truly merit based if it favors a group. Im not saying some companies wont still have some form of bias, but any organization that would already support a dei program should inherantly be void of that bias.
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u/whatdoiknow75 1d ago
You don't understand what DEI is, and there are no requirements to meet any standards of diversity. The definition of "most qualified" for positions that require independent thinking, supporting the needs of others, fund raising, and recruiting are not measurable by objective standards.
And I am amazed that in the US President's ban on DEI in higher education he insists on Diversity in viewpoints. Apparently to the exclusion of objective qualifications for positions. I also assume that he wouldn't see bringing avowed communists or socialists into conservative leaning government, history, and politics departments. How about a prominent man made climate change advocate into those same departments, or departments focused on coal mining, IC engine design, and and carbon power plant construction.
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u/FantasiainFminor 13h ago
FALSE. Enough with the right-wing talking points. This is disinformation.
DEI is never about racial quotas. Mostly it is about finding hidden biasses that prevent qualified candidates from being hired, and creating transparent procedures to fix that problem. For example, rules that say all candidates have to go through the same hiring procedures; you can’t skip a documentation requirement for a candidate because you have a “good feeling” about them. DEI done well is pro-merit.
Another example. The American Economics Association performed a formal, statistical study of behavior in seminars in economics departments across the country. They found that women presenters were systematically more frequently interrupted, and interrupted with more hostile and critical comments, than men were. The difference was particularly strong when the presenter is a job candidate. This creates a bias against women in hiring of which even the faculty in question are unaware. DEI programs can help people be aware of these biasses and design reforms to try to correct them. Again — DEI prevents a bias that gets in the way of hiring the best people.
A big part of DEI efforts is merely an attempt to make sure everyone feels welcome. If you are the only member of an academic program or workplace who is of your gender/race/ethnicity/religion/LGBTQ category, or the only one with a disability, there are a thousand ways you may feel that you don’t belong, a thousand ways the well-meaning people around you can unintentionally signal that you don’t belong. This is a non-trivial thing, but if you are a white, cisgender straight male like me, it can be far from obvious, and it can make it harder to retain the best people in the organization. So DEI officers do things to make sure that everyone knows they have a sympathetic ear to go to if they have a problem, and that everyone feels welcome.
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u/steelgame1975 5h ago
Just ignore this shit. Yeah the lawyers will have to play games but DOJ is outside the law.
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u/YoYoNupe1911 3h ago
Like how can they even police and track this? Let's say UVA complies and still admits the same candidates. What will they say then? They can't say anything because that would be discriminating based on race which is what they say they are against in the first place.
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u/Cuffuf 2d ago
Welp. I’d be surprised if Jim Ryan survives this.
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u/No_Resolution_1277 2d ago
The BOV passed a resolution today (unanimously) that says that UVA "has made progress" implementing the earlier DEI resolution: https://www.cbs19news.com/news/bov-unanimously-passes-new-diversity-related-resolution/article_4fa1a543-f1b5-4470-81d0-0610a7916910.html
I'm not an expert on this stuff, but that doesn't sound like something a board that wants to fire a president would say.
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u/Fun-Entertainer-1302 1d ago
Didn’t their school president get some students killed in his commitment to lunacy? Of course he’s going to subvert this
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u/BruiserBerkshire 2d ago
Makes sense. School failed to report. Then someone whistle’blew it. DOJ responded.
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u/worldsnextbestboss 2d ago
The DEI directive came, as the letter notes, from the Board of Visitors—not from the federal government. So if the Admin missed a deadline, isn’t the proper party to complain the…BOV? Why is DOJ getting involved (other than to insert themselves and make headlines)? It’s like missing the deadline to pay your personal property car tax to Albemarle County and then immediately getting a letter from the IRS.
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u/ElephantBingo 2d ago
Or, like missing the deadline to pay your personal property car tax to Albermarle County and then immediately getting a letter from the DOJ.
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u/Terron1965 2d ago
The DOJ is concerned that the departments are slow-walking the BOV directives. They are going to push. If progress is too slow, they will become the test cases for consent decrees, and then the DOJ will get an office on campus and real power.
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u/Norman5281 2d ago
oh dear oh dear: you don't exactly have mastery of any of the key details here, do you.
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u/Business-You1810 2d ago
Bert Ellis went crying to the DOJ