The movement for change on campus started on Sept. 22, as students stood in solidarity with Black UVA following a hate crime on campus. Next came an open letter read to the Student Government Association (SGA), 13 demands introduced by the C.H.A.N.G.E. Coalition, and then on Oct. 13, a meeting with Longwood’s President W. Taylor Reveley IV.
The meeting lasted around three hours, with members of C.H.A.N.G.E. speaking with President Reveley, Provost Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Larissa Smith, and Interim Vice President for Student Affairs and Executive Director of the Moton Museum Cameron Patterson. The Rotunda was able to sit down with both President Reveley (on Oct. 27th) and BSA Representative and C.H.A.N.G.E. member Thai Copeland (on Oct. 14th) to get their takes on the meeting and information on the path going forward.
“I admire everybody's intensity and passion,” President Reveley said, discussing emotions during the meeting. He remarked it’s “Very true to the habits of democracy that we're working through this together.” While the Rotunda was unable to attend the meeting, several interviews have painted a picture of what it was like and what was discussed. According to both the president and members of C.H.A.N.G.E., members were able to express their concerns by reading both the open letter and the 13 demands, then discussing them in the time following.
President Reveley made clear several times he disagreed with the method of demands to seek change on campus. He said “Just because somebody comes with demands doesn't somehow elevate the practical workability of finding good solutions in a democracy because anybody on any issue could come up with a reasonable or unreasonable list of demands.” President Reveley also went on to say, “It is more in keeping with the habits of democracy to have dialogue and work to find practical solutions.” Copeland, challenging this directly, said “You have to demand it in order to get it.”
President Reveley, during the interview, elaborated on several of his reported answers following the meeting. Following allegations that he saw the demands as political, he said, “I absolutely didn't see the demands as inherently political.” He later said, “I may have said something along the lines of [that] there are plenty of students that are quite passionate about the Second Amendment.” The president, on the demand for a larger multicultural center, gave a timeline of “ months, not years.” On a signed commitment from the president to make progress on the issues listed from C.H.A.N.G.E., President Reveley said he “Would like to see that before the semester is over.” Similarly, he did hope for another meeting with C.H.A.N.G.E. “Before the holidays.”
Perhaps the most notable elaboration though was on the topic of a Chief Diversity Officer, the seventh demand in C.H.A.N.G.E.'s list. President Reveley stated it “Is actually a stronger stance for producing a welcoming environment to not have that all on one office's shoulders,” effectively shutting down this possibility. He said, “I do think the Longwood approach is a strong one,” defining the ‘Longwood Approach’ as diversity being “Everybody's responsibility.” In a separate interview on Nov. 16th, Interim Vice President of Student Affairs Cam Patterson echoed this belief and said “From an institutional standpoint, we have declared that this is a responsibility that we’re going to make a priority across all divisions.”
Another point that the president spoke on was C.H.A.N.G.E.’s demand 4, “Recruitment and hiring of people of color and underrepresented groups in faculty, staff, and administration, with an emphasis in CAPS.” Specifically, C.H.A.N.G.E. demanded “Faculty, staff, and administration to reflect the demographics of the Commonwealth of Virginia” including “By the year 2030, Longwood faculty/staff should be 30% people of color or from an underrepresented group.” President Reveley addressed this directly, stating, “It is not the way federal law, state law works to have kind of a percentage basis outcomes again, for better or worse.” In regards to minority hiring and scholarship awareness, he stated it is his belief “Longwood does try to do right by awareness and promotion.” He went on to say, “It's where the legal complication comes is if a school tried to set aside particular scholarships for people of particular ethnicities.”
President Reveley did also address the accusations of “gaslighting” that were brought up during the interview with Copeland. Specifically, she said President Reveley asked “If the Clark Family was here right now, you would tell them that you don’t want the building anymore?” She also alleged President Reveley asked “If [N.H. “Cookie” Scott] was here right now, would you tell her that no progress has been made by Longwood since 1972?”
During the interview, the president said “I don't recall things unfolding exactly that way.” He said, on the Clark House, “I was eager to make sure that everybody did understand that that house has a real historic significance” and it “Sounds like that was a misunderstanding.” On the point of Cookie Scott, he reaffirmed “I don't know the exact context of how that unfolded.”
When asked what he would like to share with students directly, President Reveley said “I admire everybody's intensity and passion and I do think that it is in the habits of all our work. It’s very true to the habits of democracy that we're working through this together, and it's a deeply important thing to be doing in an obviously nationwide, globally, really challenging time.”
While the open letter and demands seem like an eternity ago, both President Reveley and C.H.A.N.G.E. seem committed to continuing these kinds of conversations beyond just the first meeting. President Reveley made clear during the interview he did not view the meeting as a “unique happening,” calling it “A habit of getting together like that, which is something I've really enjoyed.” If nothing else, this means there are conversations left to be had and meetings left to be held.
