VCU shifts policies and programs to align with federal directives on DEI, affirmative action

VCU has moved to review its policies and programs in light of recent federal DEI directives. (BizSense file)

VCU has eliminated jobs and changed its admissions process in response to recent federal directives to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and affirmative action standards.

Nearly a quarter of the dozens of university positions that were reviewed for compliance with the new federal mandates were nixed, and the people in those jobs were offered new positions or have left VCU. The university has also scrutinized scholarships and hiring practices, and has recently brought on a consultant to assist in the university’s ongoing review of its programs and policies.

The VCU Board of Visitors was recently briefed on steps being taken by VCU after the board’s vote in the spring to dissolve the Division of Inclusive Excellence, which was first established in 2013, and initiate the review. That move was criticized by some board members who said it was a rushed decision and at odds with VCU’s mission to serve minority students.

The board’s resolution, which declared that VCU valued “diversity of thought and experience,” followed an executive order issued earlier in the year by President Donald Trump intended to end “illegal preferences and discrimination” created by diversity, equity and inclusion programs in higher education and other industries.

The resolution also came in response to recent instructions from the Department of Education that it considers DEI initiatives to be discriminatory, and that colleges like VCU that receive federal funding support were obligated to not discriminate.

Employees reassigned 

VCU eliminated 13 roles as part of a review of 60 positions deemed to potentially run afoul of the federal mandates, CFO Meredith Weiss told board members during their May 9 meeting.

A university spokesman declined to comment on the nature of the job positions that were eliminated, or the departments where they were located, as part of the review.

Seven people who had their jobs eliminated have accepted new job titles and two had been offered new positions. Four of the staffers who had jobs eliminated left the university rather than take a new role, but Weiss said just one of them exited directly in response to the board’s resolution.

Meredith Weiss

Those employees who have accepted new roles retain their current compensation for at least a year, and then would start to be paid the rate of their new roles. Weiss said that of the employees who have accepted new roles, three employees wouldn’t see a change, two would get a pay bump and two would have their pay reduced.

Ten employees were found to be doing “permissible work,” while four job roles were found to be partially in violation of federal law and had their responsibilities adjusted. Eighteen of the roles were student roles.

Fifteen positions were still under review as of last week, and those along with the 10 positions that VCU determined were doing “permissible work” were to be reviewed by consulting firm Cozen O’Connor.

“If any of these positions end up being eliminated, then once again we will look to place people in vacant, provisional positions that are consistent with their skills,” Weiss said.

While VCU has already worked on reviewing its programs and policies, the university earlier this month hired Cozen O’Connor to assist VCU with the process. VCU expects to pay the consultant up to $50,000 for its work, a university spokesman said.

The university said last week that it was unable to estimate how many more jobs might be reviewed as part of the process.

Programs and policies under review 

A directive from the Department of Education earlier this year sought to clarify colleges’ obligations in light of the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision that effectively ended race-based admissions. VCU later that year approved a policy to prohibit race and legacy status as factors in admissions decisions.

VCU adjusted its admissions process to remove race-related information from applications and reviewed websites and admissions materials. The university reviewed nearly 1,700 donor scholarships for racial preferences and determined that seven needed adjustments that are underway.

Sixty of the scholarships were deemed potentially problematic in the review that followed the Supreme Court decision, but university guidance on how to implement them is expected to keep them in sync with federal law.

“It would have been based on how individuals were interpreting those scholarships. We are giving guidance and clarity on all of those, so that people who are awarding those scholarships are in complete alignment,” said Jay Davenport, the university’s vice president of development and alumni relations.

VCU has also eliminated job application questions related to diversity, and the Recruitment Inclusive Champions program, which trained faculty to help search committees eliminate biases in the hiring process, was disbanded. The program had existed since 2014.

VCU inventoried nearly 170 programs and policies for review in February. Many were deemed to be non-discriminatory, and more than 50 programs are slated for review by Cozen O’Connor. Potentially more programs could be reviewed by the consultants.

Quest 2028, VCU’s strategic plan, is also under review. In March, a committee of faculty, staff and students was established to review the document. Their feedback is informing an in-progress draft revision of the plan expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.

“We didn’t start in the same place” 

VCU’s Board of Visitors voted 11-4 to adopt the March resolution to comply with the federal government’s shift on DEI initiatives. Board member Tyrone Nelson criticized VCU’s moves as antithetical to a university culture he said was supportive and appealing to minority students. He and board members Edward McCoy, Clifton Peay and Gurpreet “P2” Sandhu voted against the resolution.

Tyrone Nelson

“Four centuries ago, people that looked like me were put on boats to bring here. There is no equity. We didn’t start in the same place. So that’s why these programs were here,” said Nelson at the meeting.

Nelson added: “You look at all these first-gen students that come to VCU. You look at how they feel embraced when they come here. When you start eliminating those programs and you start minimizing some of the things we do to support, it’s going to impact this university.”

Board member C.J. Sailor, who also is black, said he struggled with his support of the resolution but said he felt it was necessary to ensure VCU would continue to receive federal funding.

“I didn’t want to do it, but my vote was based on protecting the school’s funding. And I believe you fight battles to win the war,” Sailor said during the meeting.

VCU President Michael Rao said he felt the demographics and culture at VCU, which is a majority-minority institution, had firm foundations that couldn’t be threatened by shifting political winds.

“What we created at VCU, I don’t know how it can go away. You have a limitless number of backgrounds at this institution. It’s a microcosm of what America is today. I don’t know how you would change that,” Rao said at the meeting.

Nelson worried that VCU’s changes to its programs and policies would hurt its appeal among students, and countered that a full sense of any fallout from the university’s recent moves has yet to be revealed.

“We are different. That’s why people have come here. If they don’t feel like we are (different), then they won’t (come here),” he said. “Don’t judge it by what’s happening right now; just see where you are in two or three years.”