James Balwin wrote "the challenge is in the moment, the time is always now." In this way, we must continue to make our future university "responsive to and grounded in our community-of-experience." This requires us to "dig deep" into our past in order to view what possibilities lay ahead for us. We mustn’t shy away from what we find, as we are an adjoiner between the lived experiences of our students and the fulfilled expectations of our faculty. Indeed, we will make this a transformative journey for our university.
This Brief Report on the State of VCU’s Black Faculty is the first of a series of "dig deep" expositions that will tackle issues that underlie the culture and climate of our university. We hope this work will move us beyond mere conjecture and provide us with data that allows for honest, enlightening and difference-making discussions.