Since the creation of the university in 1969, VCU students have been making their concerns known and have demanded change. Sit-ins, picket lines, protests, legal advocacy, artistic dissent and radical publishing have championed causes reflecting their investment in their community, VCU, and beyond.

Their efforts are evident in VCU Libraries collections and are organized in the new exhibit “Voices of Change: Student Advocacy and Action from the Archives” now on view in the fourth floor gallery of James Branch Cabell Library. 

Selected items from Special Collections and Archives demonstrate the strength and determination of VCU students to change their world. The exhibit team includes curators University Archivist Ruth Cody and Arts Collection Curator Sarah Scharr along with Katharine Buckley, Special Collections and Archives teaching and learning librarian, Sarah Clay, research and collections coordinator and Jessica E. Johnson, collections archivist.  

Activism in the form of art can make complex arguments and ideas accessible, compelling, and even beautiful, according to Scarr. VCU collections are rich with examples. Two letterpress printed artist’s books from Bowe House Press, printed by students, use color and compelling graphic design to draw readers to the often unheard voices of incarcerated authors in Sanctuary and to the poetry of resistance in Hello, Revolution. 

Students have used the narrative power of the comic arts and political cartoons as avenues for raising awareness, showing solidarity with causes, and voicing opinions for a broad audience. The tradition of using the stage for activism goes back to anti-war productions by RPI students, such as “The Threepenny Opera,” which debuted at the Gaslight Theatre in 1968. “These examples of “art-ivism” scratch the surface of how students have used art to express their beliefs,” Scarr says.

Student-run publications served as platforms for student opinions, coverage of student protests, and a source for information on the causes most important to students. The first of these was The Proscript, published by students in the Journalism Department at Richmond Professional InstituteI, which began the tradition of introducing to campus discourse opinions on controversial topics of the day, such as a 1948 op-ed “Is ‘Right’ Enough?” regarding Gandhi's assassination and its implications for the US Civil Rights struggle. The Commonwealth Times used op-eds to criticize university administration, and sharp-toothed editorial cartoons kept students’ causes in focus.

Students also self-published using underground means to share their views, a practice that continues today on physical and digital platforms. Students published independent newspapers, pamphlets, newsletters and zines to organize action and spread information. 

Direct action, particularly in the form of protest, has been one of the most evocative forms of student advocacy on college campuses throughout the 20th century. And, while VCU students were not as publicly active as the Richmond 34–a Virginia Union University student action that desegregated the eatery in Thalhimers Department store,  the 1960s were busy with on-campus activism. The Commonwealth Times “‘69-70 Year in Review” story covered numerous protests that year at VCU. Students organized marches, rallies, teach-ins, candlelight vigils, dances, lectures, demonstrations and symbolic acts to bring awareness and cultivate change. 

Not all student protest is in opposition to faculty or administration viewpoints. The Anderson Gallery was the first gallery to show modern art in Richmond (1935-1940). It then became the library for RPI (1940-1970). In 1970, it was slated to be turned into classrooms and offices. The faculty of the School of Arts sent an open letter to the Commonwealth Times protesting this decision, but students went a different direction. Participants in a student exhibition at the Carillon draped their work in black plastic to voice their disagreement with the planned conversion. “It’s a great example of faculty and students sharing a cause while devising their own means of action,” said Scarr. 

VCU students also formed collaborations through organizations that asserted influence on the university administration and created a strong, communal voice for change. “My particular favorite section is the panel on sanctioned activism, which shows how student organizations such as SGA, SAAP and GAS worked with students and administration and legal channels to create real change for VCU,” said University Archivist Cody. “Too often, the only focus on institutional history is through the lens of the administration; this offers a new narrative to the history and growth of VCU.”

The Student Government Association is a robust organization that advocates for student interests. Students for Afro-American Philosophy (SAAP) received student organization status in 1968 as the first Black student organization on the VCU campus. The organization was open to students of any color to foster race relations at VCU. One of their greatest successes was pushing the university to increase the number of Black faculty and new Afro-Studies courses on campus, eventually leading to an African American Studies Program. SAAP’s leadership also spearheaded change by bringing a list of demands of the Black student community to the administration. 

The Gay Alliance of Students was another example of strength through organization. The alliance was denied student organization status in 1974 and the students took VCU to federal court for violating 1st and 14th amendment rights. Eventually, after further legal action, VCU granted the gay student organization official status. 

The exhibit also points to the legacy of activism that students took into their civic lives after graduation. The curators hope to develop a corresponding event to celebrate the activism of past and present students in the fall semester.

 “I want people to recognize and appreciate the activism of past students at VCU and how this has impacted the campus and helped to create informed, caring individuals who have gone on to create change in the world,” said Cody.