By Ana Edwards

One day after taking office in January 2023, Governor Glenn Youngkin made good on his promise to eliminate all state-level DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programming.

Late last Friday afternoon, May 10, student and faculty advocates for Virginia’ Commonwealth University’s Racial Literacy initiative were heartbroken when the VCU Board of Visitors voted 10-5 to oppose the Racial Literacy mandate they’d worked so hard to bring to reality since the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.

“What angered me even more,” said VCU NAACP chapter President Anesia Lawson, was when one board member tried to minimize the value of racial literacy by breaking out these alternate explanations – that climate change could be a requirement, AI could be a requirement. But no one has made them, so why are we talking about that now?”

In a letter sent April 25 to VCU’s board, president and rector decrying the choice of Youngkin to be this year’s commencement speaker, the NAACP chapter stated,

“Your administrative decision to comply with Governor Youngkin’s demand to exclude the previously approved Racial Literacy course from our academic curriculum is both anti-democratic and anti-intellectual.These actions not only undermine academic freedom and intellectual inquiry, they also perpetuate a narrative that overlooks the intricate nuances of racial history. Further, removing this course to placate the political agenda of our governor compromises the legitimacy of our mission that states that our University: ‘Strives for intellectual truth with responsibility and civility, respecting the dignity of all individuals.’ Excluding this Racial Literacy course, designed to promote truth and dignity of all, causes this part of the mission to ring hollow.”

Arguments for the mandate lauded the cross-campus collaboration that developed the courses to meet the approved criteria, build course selection and address classroom capacity. Arguments against were based on several BOV members seeming to have little understanding of the process for approving graduation requirements, finally landing on the opinion that mandates are counter to “academic freedom.”

While all this sounds civil and reasonable, there was one BOV member willing to state the obvious: “If you leave it to the board … face it, we are all political appointees.”

While the BOV membership currently includes appointees from two past governors (Democrats Terry McAuliff and Ralph Northam), Youngkin has already begun to fill member vacancies with people in alignment with his anti-DEI stance. By the time he leaves office, 12 of the 15 members could be making decisions in lockstep with his views on higher education.

In a similar way, early in his administration, Youngkin replaced all members of the Virginia Parole Board, which now grants hardly any parole requests.

As one of five members who voted for the course mandate, the Rev. Tyrone Nelson, whose term ends in June 2025, expressed his frustration: “For a university that pounds its chest as diverse and equity as things that are important, I don’t even understand – how is this even a conversation…?”

Could it be that the racial literacy of the BOV membership needs a boost?

To learn more about the Racial Literacy Requirement project, visit this link.

To watch the recording of the May 10 board of visitors meeting, click HERE.

To read the full statement of the VCU NAACP chapter, click HERE.

To read VCU NAACP chapter President Anesia Lawson’s statement to the Board of Visitors, click HERE.