I’m Emily Williams, VCU general education faculty in Focused Inquiry of 12 years, and VCU is firing me.
This decision is not based on merit. Over these twelve years, I have taught research and writing skills to more than 1,700 students, and I’ve written many of them recommendation letters, mentored them as TAs, and helped them sort out what their educational and professional goals are. I’ve spearheaded curricular changes to address student needs, designed accessible online courses, and served the university on inclusion initiatives and on faculty senate.
VCU has promoted me twice, based on this work. After seeing my courses and student evaluations, my colleagues described me as “a highly engaged, intentional, versatile teacher” invested in “supporting and empowering her students.” This is valuable work, work it has been a pleasure to do; administration cannot justify firing me.
And it’s not just me! They’re firing 13 more dedicated faculty. Collectively, we’ve taught thousands of students, getting to know them closely in classes of 19 or 20, helping them navigate not just academic work, but college stressors, and mentoring them long past their time in our classes. This fall, with course sizes already going up to at least 23 students per class, the 14 of us will teach over 1,200 students who will then lose access to us once we’re fired.
Our remaining colleagues will have less time and energy to spend on each student, meaning that students will get less instruction in the foundational skills they’ll need for their future courses: reading, writing, research, and critical thinking. Students may also have to wait longer to get into classes, backing up their college timeline and delaying graduation. And when they’re out there looking for jobs, the faculty they built relationships with may have been fired, meaning they can’t ask for advice or letters of recommendation.
By downsizing a department proven to increase student retention and graduation rates, VCU is creating a pipeline of problems for students and faculty across the university. And they are doing this without a plan in place for accommodating student educational needs.
The excuse is the budget. But VCU is in a healthy financial position, based on their credit lines, financial reserves, and their ability to purchase more and more property in Richmond. Executive administration is making a choice to get rid of teaching faculty who have devoted their careers to supporting and educating students. We reject this choice and call for administration to reverse these layoffs and commit to adequately funding our department so that we can properly support first- and second-year students in their college journeys.
