Trump administration closing in on settlement with UVA

By Betsy Klein, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration is closing in on a settlement with the University of Virginia, according to an administration official, which could mark the first public university to reach a deal with the White House after months of turmoil.

Under the terms of the deal, which is not yet finalized, UVA would not pay any financial settlement, unlike previous agreements reached with schools like Columbia University and Brown University to restore those schools’ federal funding.

UVA is also not expected to have an outside monitor ensuring compliance, according to the official. That was a key provision of Columbia’s agreement, and one that drew criticism about the federal government’s role on campus.

In return, the Trump administration is expected to halt ongoing investigations into the school.

CNN has reached out to UVA and the White House.

The nearing agreement, which was first reported by The New York Times, marks the latest development in the Trump administration’s broader battle over campus oversight, federal funding and academic freedom.

In June, the school’s president, James Ryan, announced his resignation amid pressure from the Department of Justice to dismantle the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Prior to Ryan’s resignation, the university’s board of visitors unanimously voted to scrap its Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Partnerships, according to Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office.

But the university’s actions didn’t go far enough for the Justice Department and some conservative groups. Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, told CNN at the time that the university began “using a series of euphemisms to simply rebrand and repackage the exact same discriminatory programs that are illegal under federal law.”

UVA is one of seven universities to reject what the Trump administration deemed a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” that would unlock preferential access to federal funding. The offer, initially presented to nine schools earlier this month, included a series of demands, including no longer considering sex and ethnicity in admissions and capping international enrollment.

While there are many areas of agreement in the proposed compact, “we believe that the best path toward real and durable progress lies in an open and collaborative conversation,” university interim President Paul Mahoney said in a statement Friday.

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