Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian blasts US Department of Justice over “affirmative action” move against University of Virginia

Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian blatantly questioned the US Department of Justice over the federal investigation it is undertaking into the University of Virginia (UVA) over its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) practices. Ohanian cited facts and figures concerning UVA enrollments to drive home his point.

Several controversial emails sent by the DOJ to the UVA in recent months have also surfaced, through which the former has claimed that the latter has not done away with its DEI practices. Ohanian, who graduated from UVA in 2005 with commerce and history degrees, made his frustrations with the DOJ’s move against UVA clear via a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“Did they not take a minute to actually look at enrollment rates and compare them to the country’s population, or Virginia’s?? We live in the age of intelligence and YET people are so willing to blindly follow The New Trend — how else could someone at Justice think there’s TOO MUCH affirmative action ?? Smh,” Ohanian wrote.

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The Reddit co-founder, who married tennis legend Serena Williams in 2017, cited the UVA's enrollment numbers. The numbers suggest that its enrollment of Black students stands at lower rates compared to the representation of Black students spanning both the state and the country.

A few days ago, Ohanian called out the pressure from the Donald Trump-led US administration that led to the resignation of UVA president Jim Ryan.

"Jim is a tremendous leader; this is a very sad day for UVA" - Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian

Crestfallen upon becoming aware of the resignation of Jim Ryan, who served as the President of the UVA from August 2018, Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian called out the Donald Trump-led administration's actions against the famed university. Ohanian labeled the pressure tactics leading to Ryan's resignation a "DEI witchhunt".

"Jim is a tremendous leader; this is a very sad day for @UVA. The University hasn't just been a consistently great academic program under his tenure, it's ranked NUMBER ONE in Free Speech by FIRE ... And all because of a DEI witchhunt? It's a public university and the state of Virginia is 20% Black and less than 8% of the student body is Black," Ohanian wrote on X.

It is worth noting that while Friday, July 11, will mark Ryan's last day as UVA president, he is set to continue working at the university as a professor of law. UVA confirmed this on Wednesday, July 2.

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Sudipto Pati

Sudipto is a Tennis journalist at Sportskeeda holding a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. He has an experience of 3+ years across the market research, travel, health, lifestyle and sports sectors.

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