Blunderbuss: Demented VCU

by James A. Bacon

There’s a whole lot of crazy going on at Virginia Commonwealth University right now, and, not surprisingly, former Governor L. Douglas Wilder is in the center of it. Between the accusations of racism and alleged threats to physical safety, the controversy is a window into the demented rhetoric inside higher education today – everyone’s a racist or a Nazi – and, insofar as universities are incubators of rhetoric that spills into broader society, it is symptomatic of the fever that afflicts us all.

The story, as best as I can reconstruct it from the account provided by Eric Kolenich at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, began when James M. Burke, a faculty member at VCU’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, sent an email Jan. 30 to Wilder, after whom the school is named, decrying his advisory role in Governor Glenn Younkin’s 2021 transition team.

Burke, judging by the contents of this email, does not think highly of Republicans. Indeed, he likens them to Nazis. He wrote:

“Wow. What a shit show. It will be four years of disaster. … I am beyond disgusted and disappointed in anyone who could have missed the obvious. Welcome the Nazis. I have no respect for anyone who supported [Youngkin]. … Is this what you wanted, Doug? I can’t believe you fell for it. You fucked up badly. … Trust me these jerks will come after me for teaching history. They will come after my Black colleagues for saying what is true. I will not recapitulate to these people. Someone has to stand up. Will you stand up with me?”

Days later, in a message to his supervisor, Burke wrote that if Wilder “tries to make things worse, he will find himself in a bad place.”

Perceiving Burke’s words as “terrorist language” and a threat, Wilder School Dean Susan Gooden filed a court protective order against Burke. On Feb. 8, she notified Burke that his texts violated VCU’s code of conduct for employees and he was being fired for breach of contract.

But Burke has yet to leave, and Wilder blames VCU Provost Fotis Sotiropolous. “The dean of the school doesn’t have the authority to dismiss anyone if she happens to be Black and a female,” Wilder said, referring to Gooden. “Am I talking about racism? Yes I am.”

Wilder said Sotiropoulos and VCU lawyer Jake Belue had contacted human resources to “undo” the firing. Burke said he is negotiating with the university on a settlement to leave VCU.

At a Board of Visitors meeting Friday, Wilder laid bare the quarrels and called upon the the board to hold the administration accountable. Racism, he said, is “practiced and condoned here at the university. Those of you who know me know I don’t make those charges lightly.”

The Board took no action.

 Wilder is a wonder. When most 91-year-olds are hobbling around on canes or wandering off from their dementia wards, Wilder seems as physically active as ever. Always a political maverick, he is also as opinionated as ever. There is something unseemly about a white assistant professor like Burke profanely haranguing the nation’s first Black governor on matters of race, and Wilder has every justification for being irked by Burke’s words.

But why hurl charges of racism? Although the VCU administration put Gooden’s firing of Burke on hold, the university is negotiating terms and conditions for his departure. VCU’s response is typically bureaucratic. Rules and procedures must be adhered to. Is that racist?

What a mess. Hurling around accusations of Nazism, terrorism, and racism is not becoming to VCU. Virginia’s public discourse is debased enough as it is. This squabble cheapens it even more.

by James A. Bacon

When Gail Smith talks about growing up in 1950s-era Goochland County, she calls her time attending the Second Union Rosenwald School as “the best years of my life.” The two-room schoolhouse was lacking in what we refer to today as “amenities.” But it was supported by the local African-American community, and it had spirit.

There were no school buses in or her poor farming community — Smith passed through woods on her trek to and from school. There was no indoor plumbing or running water either. The boys went to a nearby spring with a bucket and dipper to fetch water. Nor were there grocery stores, much less free meals — students brought their farm-raised lunches in brown bags. There wasn’t even central heating. During cold weather, the boys scoured the woods to gather kindling for the fire. School lasted five hours until 2:15, with time off for two 15-minute breaks. When the kids heard the bell, they hurried back to their classroom. Smith and her contemporaries recall a teacher, Fannie Beale, with great fondness for her firmness and her ability to inspire.

“We were poor but we were happy,” Smith says. “We came to school excited to learn.” She and many classmates went on to earn higher-ed degrees and pursue professional careers.

Smith spoke at an event this week organized by the Second Union Rosenwald School Museum, which has converted the old schoolhouse into a museum, and the Richmond Jewish Coalition, which has supported the museum financially. The original school was an outgrowth of a partnership between famed African-American educator Booker T. Washington and Jewish philanthropist Julius Rosenwald.

Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears, who gave the keynote address, said that Second Union Rosenwald showed what was possible when the community had “skin in the game.” Such community solidarity and zest for learning seems alarmingly lacking today, Sears said. She recalled visiting a beautiful new school several years ago — it had indoor bathrooms, air-conditioning and classrooms separate rooms for each class — “yet there was no joy.” When she asked the kids what made them want to come to school, no one had an answer. Finally, one boy said, “I’m just glad to live another day.” In another school visit, she recalled, she asked children if they could pass any law what would it be. One little guy said, “I want to make a law, if you kill someone, you have to pay for his funeral.”

“We’ve come a long way,” said Sears, who grew up in a similarly small school in Jamaica before immigrating as a child to the United States. “But we’ve taken ten steps back.” Too many people, she said, have forgotten the words of African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass: “Education means emancipation.”

by James A. Bacon

There are multiple college rankings these days. Results vary widely based upon the criteria used to rate the institutions: prestige, social justice, affordability, and the like. Moneymagazine uses 24 factors reflecting upon the quality of the education, the cost of the education (net price after adjusting for financial aid), and outcomes (post-graduate earnings, economic mobility and return on investment).

I could give a flying fig about “prestige” — prestige in the higher-ed world doesn’t translate into anything I value — or “social justice,” as defined by leftists. Money magazine’s ranking comes closest to reflecting my values and priorities, which can be summed up as educational value added.

Of the 671 institutions that met Money’s qualifications (minimum size, reliable data, above-media graduation rate), here is how Virginia institutions fared under Money’s methodology.

University of Virginia— No. 3.

Virginia Military Institute — No. 5

Washington & Lee University — No. 11

Virginia Tech — No. 22

George Mason University — No. 72

James Madison University — No. 86

By James A. Bacon

Governor Glenn Youngkin announced yesterday the creation of a task force to combat violent crime in Virginia. Said the Governor in making the announcement: “We will take a comprehensive look at how we can address the rise in violent crime by providing more law enforcement resources, creating alternative and after-school activities for children, and addressing the fear that results in witnesses failing to show up for a criminal hearing.“

The announcement could not have been more poignantly timed. In Hampton Roads, three men were killed and three others injured in a series of shootings Sunday and Monday, reports The Virginian-Pilot. One incident occurred at a vigil attended by hundreds of people in Norfolk in commemoration of a previous shooting victim.

Hopefully, the task force will identify some useful tweaks to policing, justice, and schools to reverse the upsurge in violence over the past two years. But the problem runs deeper than a lack of resources or a failure of policy. What we’re seeing now is the result of thorough-going de-legitimization of the criminal justice system by America’s political, media and cultural elites. Charges of "systemic racism” have inspired contempt for law enforcement in lower-income Black communities. To turn the tide, Youngkin needs to articulate a counter-narrative that restores legitimacy and and then enact reforms to back it up.

by Kerry Dougherty

by Jim McCarthy