Two fascinating pieces about the drama swirling around VCU and its now-outgoing president, Eugene P. Trani, hit the streets today.
The first, which is well worth reading in its entirety, is Chris Dovi's cover story in Style Weekly. It's not surprising that Dovi found several faculty members to speak on the record about Trani's leadership at VCU; it's surprising that he didn't find more. If Dovi's piece reads a bit harsh, consider it a reflection of two decades of university faculty feeling compelled to hunker down as research dollars and community engagement both trumped the actual instruction of students in the classroom.
[Developer Robert Englander] also notes that Trani’s skills beyond “bricks and mortar” have made him successful at courting business interests and even far-ranging political interests to his cause: “He has forged relationships with foreign countries.”
It’s a strength that’s also a weakness, according to another prominent member of the Richmond business community, unwilling to be named because of his close association with community leaders who work with Trani. “The man has no heart and has no soul,” he says. “His office wall is full of pictures of senators and congressmen. If you’re not one of those, you don’t rate.”
Such bold visions don’t come easy. And rarely do they morph into reality without sacrifice. For all of Trani’s development prowess, there’s been a long-festering belief among tenured professors and faculty that academics, in some respects, have taken a back seat to VCU, the community developer. The voices grew louder four years ago when Trani announced plans to tear down the historic West Hospital on East Broad Street, the majestic art-deco hospital where the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals became a national powerhouse.
While preservationists howled, the plan also became further proof to critics that Trani had no room for MCV’s storied reputation, or in the larger sense, the hospital’s well-regarded medical programs and research. Development was the top priority at VCU.
And in a sign that the fractures aren't contained within the faculty offices along Franklin Street, the Times-Dispatch's Michael Martz and Kirin Kapsidelis continue their increasingly excellent reporting on the Trani/VCU saga with news about a new fault line within the VCU Board of Visitors.
Board member and novelist David Baldacci let loose with a broadside this week. It's a doozy:
Baldacci — a Richmond-area native and graduate of Henrico High School and VCU — faults university officials and fellow board members for over-reacting to an anonymous complaint by targeting faculty members with tactics that he compared to a CIA torture session and scare campaigns conducted by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s.
In the process, he says, the investigation has badly damaged VCU’s reputation while failing to fairly get to the truth of how Monroe was able to receive a VCU degree after completing only six of his 122 course credits at the university.
"If handled internally, it would have been a perfect opportunity to ensure everyone — including accreditation boards and university alumni — that VCU has in place appropriate safeguards to guarantee the integrity of its university degree," Baldacci wrote in a nine-page letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch today.
"Unfortunately, instead off a university matter, we have a media circus, the public condemnation of faculty and other school personnel, a full-blown public scandal, allegations of investigatory abuse, and multiple resignations of distinguished faculty," he added.
The letter, delivered on the eve of a critical two-day board meeting that began today, reveals a deep split in the 16-person board, whose chairman, Rector Thomas G. Rosenthal, has become VCU's spokesman on the Monroe scandal and a key player in overseeing the investigation.
A full report is expected in Thursday's Times-Dispatch.
