Up next
The Answers Will Come
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on Feb. 12, 2015 that retired VCU president Eugene Trani would co-chair a task force to study the decline in black students and faculty.
At that time, VCU’s Black Education Association raised alarms about black faculty numbers so low that minority students likely never will have a black professor. Studies have shown time and again that black educators are pivotal for black students and benefit all students.
At the September 2019 Symposium, ‘Race in Academia’, sponsored by the School of Government and Public Affairs, Interim Dean Susan Gooden brought to the attention of the five participating presidents, that “we’ve had at VCU a 150% turnover in African American faculty in recent years.” No response was made by any of the participants, including Dr. Michael Rao.
Has the “study” co-chaired by Dr. Trani been published? Has it been followed? Is there a reason why this situation persists? Is it intractable? What reason(s) exists today that allows this to continue?
