Local organization criticizes VCU’s tuition hikes, expansion and race relations on campus

Flyers with bold black letters reading “FUCK RAO” were handed out to students last Thursday by Richmond Struggle, an organization that addresses social needs to protect the working class.

Students and community members founded the group a year ago to improve VCU’s involvement with the city. They raised concerns about the university’s expansion into historical neighborhoods like Jackson Ward, interactions with the homeless community, minority student groups and rising tuition costs.

Chris Seress, a student and member of Richmond Struggle, said one of the most jarring moments for him was seeing how the VCU Police Department patrols campus.

“It’s been told to me by many people who have attended this university that VCUPD is not friendly towards people of color,” Seress said. “It’s a terrorist force that walks around campus so that ‘undesirables for the university’ do not come onto the campus and make us look bad.”

The organization said that they haven’t communicated directly with either VCUPD or the university, but have expressed their concerns at university forums.

VCUPD Public Information Officer Corey Beyers said VCUPD is available to meet with the group to address their concerns.

“The VCU Police Department is highly visible on both campuses, actively engages with all members of the VCU community and has strong partnerships with residents in surrounding neighborhoods,” Beyers said in an email.

Ultimately, Richmond Struggle would like to build up an autonomous working class power that includes students of all backgrounds, Seress said.

Another member of the organization – who asked to only be addressed as “B” in case of backlash – also expressed their frustration of how VCU doesn’t support their claims for being a diverse and inclusive environment.

“You can’t just have the people that are coming and giving their money be diverse,” B said. “You have to be engaging diverse peoples and give them positions of power — having diversity within the student population isn’t enough.”
Richmond Struggle said they would be willing to sit down with the university but do not expect anything to change until students organize and condemn the university’s actions.

ONLINE EDITOR

Hiba Ahmad
Hiba is a senior studying broadcast journalism and religious studies. In addition to writing for the CT, she is the campus editor-at-large for the Huffington Post, a reporter for VCU InSight and president of United Muslim Relief at VCU. This summer, Hiba interned with the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington, D.C. She previously interned with Voice for America and as a web content intern for VCU’s Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture.
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