CHARLOTTESVILLE,VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Bert Ellis, a former member of the UVA Board of Visitors and outspoken critic of President Jim Ryan, believes Ryan’s ouster creates an opportunity for the school to move away from what Ellis sees as its recent left-leaning politics.

“I wasn’t trying to move the University of Virginia towards the hard right, I just wanted it to move from hard left towards the middle,” Ellis said during an appearance on the Schilling Show on Monday. “He could have easily done that and been a hero and a leader in higher education but no. He drew his line in the sand on DEI.”

Ryan resigned Friday under pressure from the Trump administration and its Department of Justice, which is investigating UVA’s compliance with federal law, in particular its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. According to the DOJ, UVA has not confirmed it is in compliance with the directives from the Trump administration to eliminate DEI programs.

Virginia stood to lose federal funding had Ryan not agreed to resign. Ryan cited the impact of those lost dollars in a statement he released Friday.

In the end, Ellis said, Ryan’s passion and commitment to DEI is what led to his ouster.

“He said he was a huge advocate for it at Harvard and a huge advocate for it at UVA, no matter what the law of the land is,” Ellis said. “And he was going to continue to push it, like, ‘Either get out of my way or fire me.'”

Ellis was removed from the BOV in 2025 by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who said then that Ellis had violated the state’s code of conduct for boards and commissions. Before his removal, Ellis — appointed by Youngkin to help dismantle DEI at the school — said he met frequently with Ryan to discuss UVA’s direction.

“The president is supposed to report to the board and serves at the direction of the board,” said Ellis. “Jim Ryan had it totally in his control to maintain his position and status all he had to do was abide by this direction and he chose not to.”

The school named chief operating officer Jennifer “J.J.” Davis as its acting president on Monday. She will serve until an interim president is hired. How long it will take for the university to select a permanent leader is unclear. Ryan hasn’t said when his last day in office will be, but he has said it will be no later than Aug. 15.

Monday, outgoing rector Robert Hardie and incoming rector Rachel Sheridan, whose term began Tuesday, released a letter to the university outlining what is next for UVA’s leadership, including Davis’s appointment, and the beginning of a national search for the next president.

“When the office of the presidency becomes vacant, the Board manual requires that the Rector promptly form and convene a search committee that will identify and recommend a new president to the Board,” the letter read. “The search process will include input from a full range of stakeholders, including faculty, students, staff, and alumni. This process will commence shortly, and we will continue to keep the community informed.”

Over the weekend, Sen. Scott Surovell cautioned UVA not to move too quickly in selecting a new president, since Virginia will have a new governor in 2026 and that person – either Democrat Abigail Spanberger or Republican Winsome Earle-Sears – could change the ideological makeup of the UVA Board of Visitors.

Ellis believes that the open president position presents an opportunity for the university to shift in the way he originally asked of Ryan in his time as a BOV member.

With a potentially more right leaning university president, Ellis believes that UVA could, “increase the diversity of hiring when it comes to political view. It is well known that nobody gets hired at this university that is conservative or even moderate or Christian and that’s got to change.”

“You have a once in a lifetime chance as this board to redirect the University of Virginia, to move it from hard left, where it was going, and had pretty much gotten to, and move more towards the middle of the road,” said Ellis. “That was my dream and vision, but I am no longer a board member, so I am rooting them on.”