Following an investigation led by VCIJ at WHRO and ProPublica, Virginia’s recently approved budget allocates nearly $60,000 over the next two years to establish a commission dedicated to studying the effects of public college and university expansions on Black communities.
The commission, outlined in the state budget, will delve into the historical acquisition of lands and assess potential remedies for affected Black families and their descendants. It will collaborate with public higher education institutions to scrutinize property transactions in predominantly Black neighborhoods and assess the need for compensation or other forms of relief.
This initiative comes in the wake of an investigative series by VCIJ at WHRO and ProPublica, which documented the gradual displacement of a largely Black neighborhood in Newport News due to the expansion of Christopher Newport University. The investigation shed light on similar disruptions caused by other Virginia universities like Old Dominion and the University of Virginia, which often employed eminent domain to acquire land.
