Katie Meeker, Opinions & Humor Editor
As the semester begins and students return to campus after a long and hot summer, almost everyone will have heard the big news: VCU finally gave Sereen Haddad her degree.
Following a grueling battle with VCU Student Affairs, Haddad, who graduated in May, received her diploma once a higher conduct board made up of VCU administrators, faculty and students appealed the conduct violation accusation that withheld her degree.
Haddad initially faced conduct charges from VCU Student Affairs due to her involvement in a peaceful gathering commemorating the anniversary of the violent arrests of student protestors at the April 2024 Gaza solidarity encampment.
The investigation found Haddad responsible for violating one of the tenets of VCU’s interim campus expression and space utilization policy. Student Affairs levied her with a deferred suspension and a requirement that she write an essay on morals and ethics before she could receive her degree. Haddad, however, with her family and community’s support, decided to fight back.
The struggle for Haddad’s degree caught the public’s attention, not only within the Richmond and VCU community but globally. Interviews with The Guardian and Democracy Now! spread the story like wildfire, and over 12,000 letters supporting her were sent to the VCU provost. Signatures ranged from Virginian elected officials to overseas advocates.
To everyone’s amazement, she battled the institutional giant that is VCU and came out victorious.
Haddad’s win is one for student activists across the country, not just at VCU. However, the situation comes with costs and benefits.
While this is a rousing success story for student-led social justice movements, the case has also revealed cracks in the school’s regulations that administrators will be quick to fix. Do not be surprised to see updates to VCU’s campus expression and space utilization policy (again), alongside other new sanctions and rules, in the coming months. VCU will likely not let itself be embarrassed like this again.
On the other hand, Haddad’s case emphasizes the power of a people united and serves as a lesson to all of us, but especially to student organizers. Groups across campus are already using Haddad’s case as a guide when it comes to dictating their goals for the upcoming semester. Students for Justice in Palestine, for example, is shifting the framework and direction of its organization after a long summer of advocating for the return of Haddad’s degree.
“I think the biggest thing we want to do the next few semesters is shift from being a more reactive organization,” said William Spencer, a member of SJP’s leadership team. “We also want to work on creating a longer-term plan for things that have lasting change.”
Spencer stated that while SJP has already partnered with other movements on campus, such as the NAACP and Green Action, they would like more allies.
“We want to expand the tent and see if we can create a more united front against the administration, especially in these trying times, because it won’t just be for Palestine,” Spencer said. “We’re going to need justice for everything.”
In the end, a conglomeration of different factors won Haddad her case: intense political and social pressure, poorly-worded policies and bad PR. The list goes on. One theme though, rings true across the board — collective action.
It was a strong and loving community that won Haddad her case. It was every person who liked, commented and reposted Haddad’s viral Instagram reel. It was the 12,000 people who wrote letters to the VCU provost. It was the donors who threatened to revoke their funding for scholarships. It was all the organizations, such as the NAACP, the United Campus Workers of Virginia, Palestine Legal and news outlets that gave Haddad a chance to speak that made her victory possible.
The new semester is beginning in an era burdened with fear and uncertainty. We are living in a time where threats against student activists are more potent than ever and institutions such as VCU remain at the center of much political discourse. But if Sereen Haddad’s case has taught you anything, let it be this: befriend your neighbors, become one with your community. Mutual aid isn’t as scary as you think it is.