Virginia Union University is pushing back against a student-written letter and online petition calling for an investigation and the removal of VUU President Hakim J. Lucas and Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, chair of the VUU Board of Trustees.

In a four-page letter to the Free Press on Dec. 13, VUU spokeswoman Pamela H. Cox rejected the claims circulated by the Rev. Lafayette Jefferson, a doctoral student in the private Baptist-affiliated institution’s School of Theology.

The Free Press reported on some of the allegations in Rev. Jefferson’s letter in the Dec. 13-15 edition, but did not identify him at his request. He ended his request for anonymity after Ms. Cox identified him in her letter and called his claims alleging VUU mismanagement of a grant, a hiring freeze and other issues as “false, ill-advised, arbitrary and capricious.”

However, Rev. Jefferson stands by the claims he made and has not removed the petition on Change.org that he said 300 people have signed calling for an investigation and the resignations of the VUU leadership.

“This is a righteous fight,” Rev. Jefferson wrote in a statement to the Free Press.

Ms. Cox appeared to confirm Rev. Jefferson’s claim in at least one instance regarding Dr. Corey D.B. Walker, who resigned effective Dec. 31 as a VUU vice president and dean of the theology school.

Rev. Jefferson claimed that Dr. Walker resigned in part because he was barred from filling six staff vacancies because of a hiring freeze and because of a new requirement that he report to the vice president for academic affairs rather than directly to the president.

Ms. Cox stated that VUU has no “hiring freeze,” and that “hiring at the university is driven by strategic planning and … divisional key performance indicators.”

She also confirmed that Dr. Walker, along with other deans of the undergraduate school, have been required to report to the vice president for academic affairs.

Ms. Cox noted that in a few cases, deans have been awarded the additional title of vice president, which allows them to additionally report to the university president. She stated that is the case with Dr. Walker, as well as his predecessor, Dr. John W. Kinney. But she added that Dr. Lucas has announced that the next School of Theology dean would not receive the title of vice president.

Ms. Cox also strongly disputed Rev. Jefferson’s claim that Dr. Lucas tried to shift a $1 million grant awarded to the School of Theology from the Lilly Foundation to use for other purposes.

“All grant funds are administered by the VUU Office of Sponsored Research and Programs,” she stated. “The Office of the President yields no undue influence in the management of sponsored research.”

Though she did not specifically mention the Lilly Foundation grant, Ms. Cox stated that the theology school currently has eight grants that are administered through SRP.

Ms. Cox also issued a separate statement that quoted SRP Director Linda Jackson: “SRP is the central point of coordination for research and sponsored programs and the university’s authorized representative for grants, contracts and other agreements from external sponsors. SRP oversees all pre-award and post-award activity for final authorization and approval.” Ms. Jackson also stated that SRP has signature authority over grants.

Ms. Cox also attacked Rev. Jefferson’s claim that VUU withheld part of student refunds from federal loans.

“The university does not disperse partial refunds,” as Rev. Jefferson alleged, she stated. “Awards are allocated annually and dispersed based on verified enrollment each term.”

She stated that six graduate and 63 undergraduates have pending refunds because they have not completed master promissory notes and/or have not undergone mandatory loan counseling.

Ms. Cox also dismissed Rev. Jefferson’s allegation that Dr. Lucas had replaced full-time faculty with adjunct professors.

“The university maintains a faculty ratio of 55 percent full time and 45 percent part time. We maintain a student to full-time faculty ratio in accordance with accreditation standards of 13 to 1,” she said.

Rev. Jefferson’s claim that VUU had provided padded enrollment reports to the board also does not withstand scrutiny, Ms. Cox stated.

She stated that the administration reported to the board that VUU had boosted its retention of students, and had enrolled 1,171 undergraduates and 371 graduate students in the fall of 2018, indicating that the administration did not try to hide a reduction in numbers.

According to VUU’s past reports to the State Council of Higher Education, the 2018 undergraduate enrollment and total enrollment of 1,542 students, including graduate students, is the smallest since 2008, when the school reported 1,150 undergraduates and 350 graduate students, for a total enrollment of 1,502 students.

“In conclusion,” Ms. Cox stated in ending her letter, “under the leadership of Chairman Richardson and President Lucas, the university has become one of the most transparent, collaborative and innovative shared-governance institutions in higher education.

“Committed to a student-driven business model, the chairman and president remain steadfast in preserving the legacy, ensuring sustainability and articulating a vision for continued growth and development,” she wrote.