A Personal Reflection on President Ryan’s Resignation and What We Should be Called to Do
I am saddened by Jim Ryan’s recent resignation as University of Virginia’s President resulting from the U.S. Department of Justice’s demand that he step down in order to resolve a civil rights investigation into the school. This not only impacts me as a leader and advocate in the college readiness and access space, but personally as an alum.
On March 29, 1991, I received my acceptance letter from the University of Virginia. Funny enough, I had applied because one of my high school coaches at Midwood High School suggested it had a great track & field program—and because my late father, George Johnson, was from Suffolk, VA. When I got in, I was reluctant. I wasn’t the first in my family to attend college, but I would be the first to go away to school. That was a huge milestone.
Growing up in Brooklyn, I knew I had potential—but I wasn’t sure I belonged at a school like UVa. I took the risk. I attended and graduated. Looking back, my time there shaped the leader I am today: passionate about what matters, committed to building community, and prepared to collaborate across lines of difference.
As President & Chief Executive Officer of the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, I watched as the Supreme Court rolled back Admissions policy that has since impacted enrollment numbers of Black and Hispanic students across universities.
I watched as presidents from other universities get attacked for diversifying their communities or have significant research dollars pulled from them, including the recent discussions happening in the halls of the U.S. Senate to raise endowment tax to institutions such as MIT, which will ultimately hurt undergraduate financial aid. I watched as students and citizens get arrested for their views or for peaceful assembling, which are guaranteed by our First Amendment. I watched as my fellow nonprofits partners lost essential public funding for doing the necessary and important work of serving young people from under-resourced communities.
President Ryan’s leadership in promoting access and inclusion within higher education resonated deeply with me and our mission at HEAF. He understood the power of opportunity—and worked to expand it. That kind of leadership matters, now more than ever.
Dr. King once said, “there comes a time when silence is betrayal.”
What is happening in our country is simply wrong. We must not be silent.
I cannot be silent anymore. I cannot betray the values I hold dear—human decency, respect for one another, and a belief in the power of education to change lives.
Quality education and access to it should be a right for all—not a privilege for a few. Removing leaders or dismantling the causes they champion threatens our democracy and the equitable future we should all be working toward.
So I ask you:
Don’t be silent.
Stand with our students.
Stand with organizations like HEAF that are creating real pathways to opportunity.
And stand up for the kind of leadership—like President Ryan’s—that brings us closer to justice.
With resolve and hope,
Michael Johnson
President & Chief Executive Officer
Harlem Educational Activities Fund (HEAF)