Rao talks innovation, importance of humanities at State of the University, students protest for Palestine

Andrew Kerley, Audience Editor

President Michael Rao celebrated VCU’s growth, while looking to carry momentum into the next year, during his State of the University address on Feb. 8.

The school’s biggest year ever for first-year enrollment was 2023, with over 4,500 new students, according to previous reports by The Commonwealth Times. VCU also saw a record-high $271 million in donor support, the opening of the new STEM building on Franklin St. and the Children’s Tower downtown in 2023.

In the same year, however, Rao received backlash for the failed Clay Street project that cost the university upwards of $80 million and a letter addressing the Israel-Hamas war that some students called “offensive,” according to previous reports by The Commonwealth Times.

“Congratulations, you have just finished the very best year of Virginia Commonwealth University on so many fronts,” Rao began the speech. “A university can really only get done what you got done in 2023 because of the work and dedication of all of our faculty members, our staff members, students and certainly our supporters in our communities.”

Rao spent much of the speech emphasizing the importance of VCU’s research, calling the university a “driving force” in Richmond’s and Virginia’s economy.

“I see us as a talent activator,” Rao said. “We’re committed to enabling students, and every human being in Virginia, to achieve their full potential. We’re evolving and we’re adapting how we produce and share knowledge and learning so that we can serve our communities.”

Rao pledged to make the university even more inclusive and welcoming during the speech. VCU began guaranteeing admissions in 2022 to some of its programs to high-performing students, according to a previous report by The Commonwealth Times.

“We’re really proud of the fact that we measure excellence, as a public research university, by inclusion,” Rao said. “We work to bring students in, not keep them out.”

Of the over 4,500 students that enrolled at VCU in the fall, 37% of them were first-generation, according to VCU.

Rao took a moment to say that students should absolutely be able to pursue their interests, no matter what profession.

“That includes, and must include, the arts and the humanities,” Rao said.

Rao said he sees more of a need for that humanities than ever.

“Our role as a public university is to prepare students for their lives, to get them ready for professional careers and good jobs when they graduate, but also to be the best person that you can be,” Rao said.

The university is in the midst of re-organizing following a slew of financial challenges, according to  VCU published a list of 100 recommendations brought about by the One VCU Academic Repositioning Task Force in December, according to VCU. One recommendation would combine history, philosophy and religious studies under one school; another would fold foreign language faculty into the English department.

The university shrank its workforce by 76 jobs in 2023. The campus worker’s union protested in August when 14 Focused Inquiry professors, who taught required classes, were let go, according to a previous report by The Commonwealth Times.

Rao said in an interview following the speech that faculty should participate in academic affairs as much as they can.

“Try to be as much a part of that conversation as possible,” Rao said. “Continue to really emphasize the importance of the humanities, particularly in a society where, candidly, I worry that people really don’t appreciate enough of the humanities, particularly history.”

Kristin Reed, a Focused Inquiry professor and a previous chair of the United Campus Workers at VCU, said she’s worried her department won’t have enough professors to teach amidst the layoffs.

Reed said it can be difficult for departments to secure funding when the provost pushes back against projects, noting the required racial literacy course that was indefinitely postponed over the summer.

On top of that, many humanities professors are faculty with short-term contracts, making it harder for them to make a difference in their time at VCU, according to Reed.

One of the recommendations by the One VCU Academic Repositioning Task Force would restore multiyear contracts for faculty, which can have a positive impact on student retention and graduation rates, documents show.

Reed said that students can also have a lot of power on campus, even if it doesn’t feel like it.

“VCU students are very motivated to get what they want, and that gives me hope,” Reed said.

Halfway through the address, a small group of pro-Palestine students covered their hands in fake blood, held them up towards Rao until the last word and silently walked out.

Protestor Kenza Zitouni said they thought it would be fitting because of how many donors were in the room.

“There were people in the room who were the ones that control the endowment,” Zitouni said. “We want them to understand that we don’t want ties to Israel at all, no ties whatsoever. That’s our money meant to go to the university, and if it’s going towards things that do not align with the values of students, then we want it gone.”

In previous speeches at walkouts, student protesters decried VCU’s study abroad program to the old city of Jerusalem, according to the program’s website. Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967 and is still disputed over, now straddles the border between Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the Associated Press.

Sereen Haddad has been a vocal advocate on campus for Gazan victims of the Israel-Hamas war. Haddad said the war is a genocide.

Haddad said students protested the event because Rao was addressing “VCU as a whole” and that he should cover both the positives and negatives.

“It’s about raising awareness,” Haddad said. “We feel unheard, we feel unseen. We don’t have a sense of security, and we don’t have a sense of support. Especially as a Palestinian American, I feel this is important to do.”