During my tenure as editor of VCU's faculty/staff newspaper -- during the early years of Eugene P. Trani's reign as President of Virginia Commonwealth University -- I kept a bulletin board in my Blanton House office covered with amusing photos of the university's diminutive leader. More than a few of them were affixed to illustrations of Napoleon Bonoparte. The handful of university administrators who periodically wandered into my office were not amused.
There are at least two things that stand out about Trani's tenure at VCU -- his massive impact on the physical growth on the university and his unflagging need to be recognized for his tireless efforts to transform the two-campus institution.
The unveiling of a bronze statue of Trani certainly ensures that his ego is appropriately salved. Style Weekly's Chris Dovi wasted no metaphors in his report on the few-inches-larger-than-life statue:
The graven image of the university’s diminutive departing dictator … er, president, stands a commanding 5-foot-9. Officials dedicated it May 14 in the atrium of the university’s Eugene P. and Lois E. Trani Center for Life Sciences at Cary and Cherry streets, without public fanfare and after students had packed up for home.
Though his legend is sure to grow as the giant of a man who took VCU from sleepy commuter school to sprawling state institution, while almost single-handedly rescuing Richmond’s long-languishing Broad Street, it seems unlikely that even a double daily dose of Centrum Silver will inspire any future growth spurts for Trani.
Style Weekly was unable to confirm the retiring president’s height. But through a university spokeswoman, Trani once assured Style that he’s actually taller than Napoleon Bonaparte. In this new bronze-cast rendering he appears positively statuesque.
