The VPM Daily Newscast contains all your Central Virginia news in just 5 to 10 minutes. Episodes are recorded the night before.
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Here’s a recap of the top stories on the morning of May 20, 2025:
‘An injustice to our students’: VCU staff, alumni push back on anti–DEI acts
Reported by VPM News’ Megan Pauly
Virginia Commonwealth University’s leadership and its Board of Visitors continue to receive pushback about the school’s recent anti–DEI actions from faculty and alumni.
VCU’s most recent actions follow the board’s March 21 vote to eliminate the Division of Inclusive Excellence; its former staff told VPM News the bulk of the division’s work centered on workshops and discussions about how to be more inclusive and how to handle conflict. They also cosponsored events with VCU’s On Native Ground initiative, among other collaborations across the university.
“We had really developed a good group here,” said VCU anthropology professor Christopher Brooks, who also served as a faculty adviser to the division. “There was no instance at all of discrimination or exclusivity or anything like that.”
Brooks weighed in on a variety of issues regarding staffing, recruitment, and development of the office’s programming. He’d helped develop a speaker series called Diversity in Action; the first session last fall wasabout his recent book, Tales of Koehler Hollow, and the third installment was slated for this upcoming fall. Now, the fate of this series is unknown.
Brooks, who has taught at VCU for the past 35 years, said it seems like there’s been “open season” on the term diversity. Though, he added that stopping the university’s progress in inclusiveness altogether would be incredibly difficult.
“It's kind of like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube,” he said. “We have had several generations that have grown up feeling more inclusive, expecting that to be the case.”
Henrico reviews zoning changes to rein in data center growth
Reported by VPM News’ Lyndon German
VCU’s most recent actions follow the board’s March 21 vote to eliminate the Division of Inclusive Excellence; its former staff told VPM News the bulk of the division’s work centered on workshops and discussions about how to be more inclusive and how to handle conflict. They also cosponsored events with VCU’s On Native Ground initiative, among other collaborations across the university.
“We had really developed a good group here,” said VCU anthropology professor Christopher Brooks, who also served as a faculty adviser to the division. “There was no instance at all of discrimination or exclusivity or anything like that.”
Brooks, who has taught at VCU for the past 35 years, said it seems like there’s been “open season” on the term diversity. Though, he added that stopping the university’s progress in inclusiveness altogether would be incredibly difficult.
“It's kind of like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube,” he said. “We have had several generations that have grown up feeling more inclusive, expecting that to be the case.”
News you might have missed from around the commonwealth:
- Virginia panel aims to put court actions in understandable English (The Richmond Times-Dispatch)*
- Eljo’s to close after sale falls through (The Daily Progress)*
- State regulators approve Columbia Gas increase (Cardinal News)
*This outlet utilizes a paywall.