VCU Students Protest Visa Revocations and Racial Literacy Course Rejection

A wave of student activism has swept through Virginia Commonwealth University, marked by walkouts and protests addressing concerns ranging from visa revocations to the rejection of a racial literacy course requirement. These demonstrations reflect a broader national trend of student activism, particularly surrounding issues of social justice and academic freedom.

Student Walkout Over Visa Revocations

In a powerful display of solidarity, an estimated 150 Virginia Commonwealth University students staged a walkout at the Richmond campus. They protested the recent visa revocations of two students and one alumnus. They were joined by dozens of community members who condemned the revocations. The revocations not only affected individuals at VCU but also impacted hundreds of students and graduates nationwide.

The reasons behind the visa revocations remain unclear. University officials cited privacy laws preventing the university from sharing more information. Some of the Trump administration’s visa revocations across the country have been linked to student participation in pro-Palestine protests. Others have been connected to off-campus traffic violations or even roommate disputes.

Demands for a Sanctuary Campus

Protesters called on VCU to declare itself a sanctuary campus. This would mean that the university would not cooperate with ICE activities on campus property. Sereen Haddad, a Palestinian student organizer and member of the VCU Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, urged the university to support the students and graduate affected by the visa revocations. She also urged the university to provide them with tangible assistance - legal, financial or otherwise.

Haddad highlighted what she perceived as a contradiction between VCU's claims of diversity and its actions. “VCU really claims to be a diverse campus, that’s their favorite buzzword - diversity, diversity, diversity - but it’s irresponsible to claim diversity for their brochures or PR campaigns when they don’t really stand by the students who make it diverse,” Haddad said.

Community Support and Frustration

Multiple community members attended the walkout in solidarity with students, including several alumni. They expressed similar frustrations about VCU’s failure to stand by its students and graduate. They say they were targeted in a politically-motivated crackdown on free speech.

VCU alumni Steve Carter-Lovejoy, who joined students in the walkout, said, “We're on a really slippery slope here. The illegality of this administration’s actions is shocking. The whole notion of taking people who are here legally and shipping them away just because they are exercising our right to free speech is ridiculous.” Fellow alumni Laurie Bryan agreed. She attended the walkout with her husband in support of students as well as immigrants being targeted by ICE nationwide. “We are here because we don't want them removing students from the campus for exercising their free speech rights,” she said. She added that both her daughters and her husband also attended VCU. “And we don’t want them to just take people who are innocent, who haven’t been given their due process, and take them to El Salvador."

Rejection of Racial Literacy Course Requirement

Adding to the campus's tensions, VCU’s Board of Visitors rejected the implementation of a racial literacy course requirement. The vote was 10-5. The decision, in tandem with recent political events, led to students walking out of VCU’s Spring Commencement ceremony the following day.

The general education requirement would have mandated that every student take one of 12 courses focusing on systemic racism, diversity, equity and inclusion. The 12 courses fulfilling the racial literacy requirement will still be offered for the fall semester. However, they will not be required as originally planned.

History and Development of the Requirement

The idea of a racial literacy requirement has been in the works at VCU for nearly a decade. Mignonne Guy, the former chair of the Department of African American studies, said it was inspired by AFAM students concerned about others not being aware of the same information they were. They were asking, “When will other students have to learn about this stuff?”

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Guy said she started working on the requirement in 2018 but paused because she was told it may negatively impact her tenure decision. After students continued to ask the same questions, she decided she couldn’t ignore it. She challenged President Michael Rao and other college presidents to implement a racial literacy requirement at a panel.

Students decided to take the lead and petition for the racial literacy requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic. They took the lead after the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, the killing of Breonna Taylor and the murder of George Floyd. “They needed to do something about the injustices they were living through,” Guy stated. “This was a peaceful and positive way to effect change.”

Pushback and Controversy

The requirement went through a tumultuous four years of pushback from administrators. Provost Fotis Sotiropoulos postponed it just before it was to be implemented in the fall semester. The provost said the requirement needed more courses and more course sections to seat what would be VCU’s largest first-year class ever. Some faculty didn’t believe the reasoning. Seating the entire class in one year was never their intention.

Amy Rector, a world studies professor who worked on the requirement, said, “If those reasons were true, then we had two years to come up with solutions for those particular problems. The fact that those didnʼt seem to come across the provost office as real concerns until three weeks before the start of the semester is an indication that theyʼre not real barriers.”

Further attention was drawn when Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office requested to view syllabi for the proposed racial literacy courses. Faculty called it "unprecedented" and a threat to "academic freedom." Students protested the requests by marching to Capitol Square.

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The Board of Visitors requested during a meeting to view a presentation on the requirement in a future meeting. The provost then informed faculty that the Board would not allow the requirement to be implemented until they voted on it. The provost cited similar Board votes from years past as precedent saying the Board did in fact have the authority to vote on the requirement.

Board of Visitors' Decision

The VCU Board of Visitors is a body of 16 public figures appointed by the governor of Virginia. The Board approves faculty appointments, tenure decisions and curriculum changes. They also make recommendations to retain academic quality.

The discussion was not to be about the courses’ content, but whether or not to add another graduation mandate, the provost said. Regardless, some Board members still debated the courses’ content. After nearly two hours of debate, many Board members said they did not understand what the requirement entailed. Some Board members thought it was only one class, others did not know what content it was teaching.

Todd Haymore, the Board’s chair, said he voted “NO” because he didn’t believe in imposing more graduation mandates on the student body, regardless of the courses’ content. Andrew Arroyo, the interim senior vice provost for academic affairs, explained in the meeting that if the racial literacy requirement were implemented, it would have fulfilled one of the 10, not added another.

Student and Faculty Reactions

Students representing VCU’s NAACP chapter were in the room when the requirement was rejected. Ashley Brown, a vice president of the chapter, said the vote was “disheartening” and expressed frustration with Board members voting to end an initiative that many of them did not know of or understand. “It feels as if the voices of the people are not heard, and they’re stepped over,” Brown said.

President Rao and Provost Sotiropoulos both expressed their support for the racial literacy requirement in statements released shortly after the vote was held. Many students and faculty placed blame on Youngkin. Guy, on the other hand, scrutinized Rao, Sotiropulous and administrators in a statement. “Many faculty and students have admonished the BOV for overriding prior votes in support of the requirement by the same governing body. I would urge my colleagues to consider that, as we have seen across the country, Boards are often appointees by the state and thus riddled with political hacks that do not have the advanced education or expertise to make decisions about the structure or content of college curriculum…In the case of the racial literacy requirement, the administration at VCU had four years to implement this initiative and time after time they manufactured crises to not do so because they did not want to implement this literacy. Yesterday’s meeting was a continuation of this pattern…Twice in two weeks the administration has demonstrated that they lack the will and moral certitude to stand on the right side of history. Most tragic is they have demonstrated that the lived experiences of our students do not matter.”

Commencement Walkout

Students were already planning to protest VCU’s Spring Commencement. The protest was planned because Youngkin was set to appear as the keynote speaker. After the racial literacy decision and the police deconstruction of a pro-Palestine encampment, more student organizations released statements that decried VCU and Youngkin.

Approximately 100 VCU graduates walked out of the Greater Richmond Convention Center when Youngkin started speaking. The protest was organized by the “NotWelcomeAtVCU” campaign. This campaign is a coalition of student groups that disagree with Youngkin on a multitude of issues including racial literacy, Palestine and LGBTQ+ rights. Many students, including the national anthem singer, wore keffiyehs with their gowns.

After leaving the building, undergraduate students joined graduates in a march to Abner Clay Park. They chanted “You’re not welcome! Youngkin’s not welcome!” One student held up a sign that read “Governor Youngkin, stop erasing history + academic freedom” on one side and “VCU admin loves censorship. Provost Fotis, where is our academic freedom?” on the other.

Intertwined Causes

Sereen Haddad said causes like the pro-Palestine movement and the fight for racial literacy are intertwined. “An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere,” Haddad said.

Protesters held a short rally at Abner Clay Park before playing music and holding their own graduation celebration. One graduate, Siatta Kaba, said VCU is hypocritical for marketing itself as a diverse school while shooting down things like the racial literacy requirement. “I’m graduating from the AFAM department," Kaba said.

Security Measures and Atmosphere

Before entering the building, a sign warned that wearing masks to conceal identity was prohibited. Non-compliance would result in arrest. Friends and families of the graduates had to pass through metal detectors. An announcement warned that disruptions would not be tolerated.

Youngkin was introduced by VCU’s President Michael Rao but was mistakenly referred to as President Ryan, confusing him with University of Virginia President Jim Ryan. Instead, during the graduation ceremony, some students chose to walk out approximately 15 minutes after it began, when Youngkin started his speech. The majority simply headed straight for the exit, while a few displayed signs or waved keffiyehs. A few audience members applauded as these students exited.

The students exited the convention center, passing signs on the doors indicating that reentry was prohibited. As a procession of protesters appeared, the class joined in, adorned in their caps and gowns. Upon arriving at the park, the graduates received a megaphone to pass around.

Graduate Perspectives

On Saturday, Kaba spoke into her megaphone, “I find it interesting how we literally come to these universities with these politics and the universities will prop us up and use it for representation on their own behalf."

After the ceremony, the University put out a bland press release saying that Youngkin told the class that “the world needs your music.” The press release ignored that most graduates did not attend the ceremony and that many walked out.

National Context

VCU's graduation walkout was one of several that took place across the nation. Students graduating from the University of Wisconsin turned their backs during a speech by the university chancellor. At the University of California, Berkeley, hundreds of graduates chanted throughout the ceremony.

Other universities, such as Duke University, Pomona College, Emerson College, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Northeastern University, Ohio State University, and University of Michigan, also experienced protests and demonstrations during their commencement ceremonies.

Concerns over Visa Revocations

Secretary of State Marco Rubi says hundreds of students have had their visas revoked, and the administration plans to increase that number.

Janice Carter Lovejoy said, “What the current administration in Washington is doing is harming the ability for students and faculty to use their rights of free speech. They don’t even want students to protest. They don’t want students to talk to the media. They are taking away the freedom that we have as Americans.”

Protesters in Richmond are claiming that VCU leaders haven’t done enough for at-risk students. Ait-Bella said, “They asked them to carry their paperwork, and they left them, they left them in the dust, and they left them vulnerable, which is absolutely unacceptable.”

Haddad said, “If you claim to be an institution of higher learning, you need to protect the students that make it that okay. People come to this university to learn and to engage, and instead, they are coming here and they feel fear from their own university should be protecting them, and they instilled their trust in a university that is turning their backs on them.”

VCU says privacy laws prevent the university from sharing additional details, but they aren’t currently aware of recent immigration actions involving faculty or staff.

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