Letter Regarding Terminated VSU Faculty Members

On February 26, the AAUP sent a letter to Virginia State University President Makola M. Abdullah inquiring into the termination of six faculty members in the Virginia State University's College of Agriculture, who have requested the advice and assistance of the AAUP following the termination of their faculty appointments. The six professors at the Agricultural Research Station report that on December 16, 2025, they were each informed, without prior warning, that their individual research program in the college was being "sunsetted" and that their faculty appointment was terminated, effective immediately.

The letter, from AAUP Senior Program Officer Mark Criley, states,

The rationale provided to the faculty members in the December 16 meetings-the "sunsetting" of an individual faculty member's research program-is not a recognized basis for the termination of a faculty appointment under either AAUP-recommended standards or Virginia State University's own institutional regulations. Moreover, none of the procedural standards for any of the three bases for termination has been observed.

Instead, the evidence available to us indicates that six professors with a cumulative record of more than ninety years of service to the institution have been summarily and unceremoniously removed from service and banished from campus. The administration has terminated their appointments without providing written notice or reasons; without citing any institutional policy as a basis for its action; without the involvement of any faculty governance body; without severance; and without the affordance of any semblance of academic due process. This is a matter of grave concern to our Association under its longstanding responsibilities.

Virginia State University has been on the list of administrations censured by the AAUP for actions in violation of Association-supported standards of academic freedom and tenure since 2005, following an investigation that determined that the administration had dismissed two tenured faculty members in contravention of AAUP-supported standards of academic due process.

Read the AAUP's letter to Virginia State University.