Ryan outlines UVA’s DEI approach—and it’s not about following the law.

“How Much Risk Are You Willing to Take?”

UVA President Jim Ryan addressed how the university is handling legal reviews of its programs post-affirmative action and in response to the Board’s DEI resolution. But rather than signaling reform, Ryan made clear that UVA is more focused on managing risk than on ensuring legal compliance.

“We did a review like this after the Supreme Court's decision in the affirmative action cases, and asked all the schools and units to do a review of their programs and policies,” he said.

He described the legal terrain in terms of “three buckets”:

“There are buckets where... you would look at a policy or practice and say that clearly violates the law.”

“And then there’s a bucket where you would say absolutely doesn’t, but there’s a middle bucket where it’s unclear and you could argue one way or the other.”

According to Ryan, most of the real discussion will center on that gray zone — not on what’s legal, but on how far UVA is willing to push the boundaries:

“It’s not a math problem, it’s a judgment problem… because it’s basically about how much risk are you willing to take.”

He summed it up by saying: “That’s where the conversation will occur.”

So UVA isn’t cleaning house — it’s running a cost-benefit analysis. The question now isn’t what’s right or lawful, but what they think they can get away with.

Do you trust Jim Ryan’s judgment on that?