Heciel Nieves Bonilla, News Editor
Students and faculty are expressing frustration with VCU’s engagement with complaints regarding tenure policies and faculty treatment — following both changes to policy and the recent and upcoming departure of several faculty members from VCUarts. At a lecture at the Institute for Contemporary Art on Feb. 16, sculpture and extended media professor Lily Cox-Richard led a discussion on tenure review woes, alleged racism and the firing of fellow professor Monsieur “Sandy” Zohore.
The firing comes after VCU’s decision not to renew the contract of the school’s only full-time woodworking professor in the fine arts program and as it moves on with the shuffling of its arts departments, according to a previous report by The CT.
A brief of the university’s resolution on the matter said the changes “will not alter or change any existing degree programs in the School of the Arts” and that faculty would see “limited change” as a result of the realignment
A letter by fellow painting and printmaking faculty read aloud at the Feb. 16 event raised suspicion at the timing of Zohore’s removal, given he was to complete his tenure review cycle in the 2026-27 academic year.
“We argue that [Zohore’s] immediate termination at this juncture subverts our understanding of the established VCU promotion and tenure guidelines, and ignores the best interests of the department, our students and the university’s broader reputation,” the letter read.
Zohore is the only faculty of color in their department. Several speakers tied their firing to racism experienced by faculty in the past, including their department colleague Cara Benedetto, who pointed out an incident within her own department in 2018 in which former professor Javier Tapia called security on a Black department colleague, Caitlin Cherry.
“The list of Black colleagues, artists and academics who have either been fired or sought employment elsewhere because they felt their work or person was exploited, manipulated or undervalued is long,” Benedetto said.
The list includes Black and brown faculty who have left the school to pursue work at other universities or in the broader art world, such as Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Caitlin Cherry and Madison Moore. VCUarts has experienced a high turnover of Black faculty previously, according to VPM.
Tenure review normally involves a set cycle of evaluation of a professor’s work and teaching in the first years of their career in an institution, culminating in a full review by “disciplinary experts and outside reviewers” in their sixth year.
Tenure generally comes with more permanent employment, more benefits and greater discretion to pursue research. Cox-Richard bemoaned faculty’s tenuous relationship with the tenure process.
“At its best, tenure functions as a form of institutional safeguard, protecting intellectual freedom and helping prevent careers from being shaped by sudden or unilateral decision-making,” Cox-Richard said at the event. “I’m walking through this because when processes designed to safeguard fairness are bypassed, the consequences extend far beyond any single individual procedures.”
Cox-Richard said that she is preparing to leave VCU as it has “become unsafe” for her to stay. She spoke broadly about institutions using neutral language and procedural authority to quell dissent.
“We can’t expect our jobs to love us back. We can’t expect the institutions that we work for to show us care, but we are not the institution,” Cox-Richard said.
VCUarts dean Carmenita Higginbotham stated the school could not comment on the specific circumstances of Zohore’s employment and referred to the new tenure guidelines in response to “questions regarding tenure policy and process.” She did make a specific statement regarding student and faculty comments on the mistreatment of Black VCU faculty.
“VCUarts does not take this lightly,” Carmenita stated. “VCUarts remains committed to fostering an environment where our faculty members are respected and we will continue to support every member of our community.”
An anonymous VCUarts faculty member said Black faculty have been fired unjustly and without cause, and called the school a toxic environment. They called Higginbotham “horrible, vindictive and reactionary” and named other grievances of faculty members at the school.
“All research funds were wiped out for faculty,” they stated. “Promises that were made, were not honored. Many term faculty have been let go of.”
The anonymous faculty described a lack of transparency from the department’s administration and a willingness to retaliate against faculty who do not take on additional tasks beyond their original contract.
“I’ve never seen the morale so bad and the distrust of administration so poor,” the anonymous faculty said. “I feel for the students because we have to be here more for the students than we’re here for the paychecks. That’s how schools work — we work for the students, not the other way around.”
During the Feb. 27 meeting of VCU’s Board of Visitors, Faculty Senate President Maria Rivera said she believes faculty at the university as a whole are facing burnout, low morale and are less satisfied with their jobs than the year prior, matching a trend found nationwide by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
“A limiting factor is faculty at VCU and many other institutions are asked to do more with their resources on a daily basis, and we have to acknowledge that that is contributing to diminished engagement that the faculty feel,” Rivera said.
Rivera said more should be done to support faculty in their own academic and research endeavors, and to communicate with faculty about the “new vision” of the university.
“If we don’t address this without clearly stating the goals of the post-tenure review process, and providing all faculty with the resources they need to meet those goals, faculty may continue to be suspicious of the initiative’s motives,” Rivera said. “And I have to be honest, that is how faculty feel about that.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The CT made the decision to leave certain sources in this story anonymous to protect them from being reprimanded by their employers.