Some VCU graduates walkout as Gov. Youngkin delivers commencement address

RICHMOND, Va. — More than 100 students stood up and walked out of VCU's graduation ceremony on Saturday morning as Governor Glenn Youngkin (R - Virginia) delivered his commencement address.

Before the protest, organizers said they planned to walk out to express objections to Youngkin's views on LGBTQ+ rights, healthcare, and his response to police breaking up a pro-Palestinian protest on campus.

After the group walked out of the Richmond Convention Center, they gathered along the sidewalk on 5th Street in Downtown Richmond.

The group cheered as each student exited the ceremony.

An additional group of undergraduate students joined the group before dozens of graduates marched down Leigh Street.

Graduates held signs that read "No graduation as usual," "Bigotry is not welcome at VCU," and "Governor Youngkin stop erasing history."

They also chanted "1, 2, 3, 4, tell Youngkin no more, 5, 6, 7, 8, history will liberate."

Following the ceremony, a spokesperson for the Governor's Office said, "I would point you to the Governor’s optimistic and unifying message that he delivered this morning when sending off VCU’s class of 2024."

The protesting students marched half a mile to Abner Clay Park in Jackson Ward before they shared testimonies on walking out.

Adjunct Professor and Ph.D. Graduate Dr. Kay Coghill was one of the coordinators of the walkout.

She said they had been coordinating it since the Governor was announced as speaker. However, she said it especially had to happen after the pro-Palestinian protest and encampment outside the main library on VCU's campus in Richmond on April 29 ended with arrests and injuries.

"It definitely added fuel to the fire and solidified that we had to do this," she said.

Coghill said she felt it was her duty to stand with the students she teaches to walk the walk. She believed Youngkin's speaking did not represent the values of students and the university, especially on topics of Black history, LGBTQ rights, and his response to pro-Palestinian protests.

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Arrington Evans, who received her undergraduate degree, also walked out for similar reasons.

She said she believed it is always important speak up when they feel representatives are not doing right by the people. For her, especially over the history of people of color.

“Everything I’ve worked for, everything I’ve done in the last four years is against what was represented today," she said.

VCU students who spoke at a recent Board of Visitors meeting said they were upset with Youngkin's perceived interference with VCU's planned racial literacy requirement.

"Yes, VCU has a bipartisan tradition of inviting gubernatorial speakers to commencement," explained one student in the meeting. "But progress has never been made without challenging tradition. And our students and faculty cannot truly be Rams. If we were not headstrong, and we'd not headbutt that which we do not like."

Earlier this week, Governor Youngkin responded to students saying they would protest the commencement saying, "I firmly believe it can be a great day of celebration. I think that anyone who thinks they're going to disrupt this for their own personal goals, I think is misguided."

More than 4,500 students earned their degree this semester at VCU.

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