Standing with VSU while confronting a difficult reality

Two years ago—almost exactly to the day—I wrote a post defending Virginia State University after a shooting occurred on campus.

Today, I find myself thinking about those words again.

For those who may not know my connection to VSU, I am a former Vice President of the university. I left VSU a decade ago, but I never left the VSU family. I established an endowment at the university and have continued to be a proud supporter and booster of Virginia State and its students. My support for VSU did not end when my employment did.

And that is the perspective from which I write today.

Two years ago, I said that VSU is a safe campus, while also acknowledging that no college campus—urban or rural, gated or open—is immune from the violence that exists in the communities around us.

Two years later, we have to address the elephant in the room:

Another shooting has happened at Virginia State University, on its campus.

Five young people were shot. One was a VSU student. Four were not. The individual who has been arrested is also not a VSU student.

Those facts matter. But they do not make what happened any less frightening for the students who were there, the parents and families who received calls or alerts in the middle of the night, the faculty and staff responsible for their well-being, or the alumni who love this university.

There is another elephant in the room that I believe we need to acknowledge as well.

Shootings happen on and around college campuses throughout Virginia and throughout our region.

Just a few weeks ago, on June 29, a 23-year-old man was shot and killed in a home on South Pine Street near VCU’s Monroe Park Campus. Richmond Police investigated the homicide.

I don’t remember seeing a flood of social media posts questioning whether VCU was a safe university because that shooting occurred near its campus. And frankly, I wouldn’t have expected to—because a violent crime occurring in the surrounding community does not automatically tell us something about the safety of the university itself.

Yet I have watched something different happen with Virginia State University.

When a shooting occurs within several miles of VSU—even when the people involved have no connection whatsoever to the university—there often seems to be a rush to bring VSU into the story. The university becomes part of the headline, part of the conversation and, ultimately, part of the perception created by the incident.

We should apply the same standard to VSU that we apply to other universities.

If an incident occurs on campus, say that. If VSU students are involved, say that. If university security or policies are relevant, examine them and ask the difficult questions.

But when violence occurs miles away and has no connection to Virginia State University, we should be equally clear about that.

Because repeatedly attaching the name of an institution to violence committed by people who neither attend nor work there creates a perception about that institution that may have very little to do with the actual safety of its campus or its students.

And let me be equally clear about this weekend:

This shooting occurred on the VSU campus.
That is different.

It deserves serious scrutiny. The university has a responsibility to examine what happened, how individuals gained access to campus and what additional measures may be necessary to protect students.

We can acknowledge that reality while also insisting on fairness and context in how Virginia State University is portrayed.

And I don’t want to sugarcoat something else.

It is becoming increasingly dangerous to be a young Black person in America.

Gun violence is taking an unacceptable toll on our young people. They encounter it in communities, at gatherings, in schools and universities, and sometimes simply by being in the wrong place when a disagreement turns deadly.

That is a problem much larger than Virginia State University.

We cannot normalize that reality.

So today, I am not going to simply repost what I wrote two years ago and say, “See, VSU is still safe.”

Today calls for more than that.

It calls for those of us who love Virginia State University to stand with students who may be shaken by what happened. It calls for us to understand the fear of parents who entrusted VSU with their sons and daughters. And it calls for alumni, supporters and friends to stand with our university while also expecting continued vigilance, strong security, accountability and honest conversations about what more can be done.

And to my former colleagues at VSU—the administrators, faculty, staff, campus police and others who now have the difficult responsibility of reassuring families, supporting students and beginning a new academic year in the aftermath of this violence:

I see you. I know how deeply you care about those students. And I stand with you.

Virginia State University is more than the worst thing that happens on its campus—or within a few miles of it.

For more than a century, this institution has educated generations of students, transformed families and communities, and produced extraordinary leaders.

Supporting VSU does not require us to minimize what happened.

We can love our university and ask difficult questions.

We can reassure our students and take their fears seriously.

We can demand fair and accurate portrayals of VSU and hold the university accountable for maintaining a safe campus.

We can stand with VSU and confront the violence threatening far too many of our young people.

Two years ago, I ended my post with safety tips for students heading to college.

Today, my message is broader:

Take care of one another. Look out for one another. Speak up when something doesn’t feel right. And please—do not allow violence to become so commonplace that we stop being shocked by it.

Ten years after leaving VSU, I am still here. Still supporting. Still investing. Still believing in its students.

And today, especially, I still stand with Virginia State University.

I continue to have confidence in President Makola M. Abdullah and in the people who work every day on behalf of VSU and its students.

Great things are happening at Virginia State University. We cannot allow acts of violence to define this institution or derail the progress being made. Those of us who love VSU have a responsibility to work with the university to help protect that progress—and, most importantly, to help protect our students.

Hail State. 🧡💙

Frankly Speaking,
Adrienne P. Whitaker