UVA defends ‘truce’ with Justice Department as Democratic legislators raise doubts

The University of Virginia is defending the “truce” it signed with the U.S. Department of Justice last week against mounting concerns raised by state Democratic legislators who oppose continued federal oversight of the state institution.

Interim President Paul Mahoney and Rector Rachel Sheridan pushed back in a letter Monday to Sen. Creigh Deeds, D- Charlottesville, and Del. Katrina Callsen, D-Albemarle, over what the university officials called a “misunderstanding” of the agreement with the Justice Department under President Donald Trump over alleged civil rights violations.

“The October 22 agreement is essentially a truce,” Mahoney and Sheridan told the legislators.

Deeds and Callsen had written the president and UVa Board of Visitors last week to express “our extreme disappointment”