Photo courtesy JMU
Telling the Whole Story
JMU’S Jennings Hall confronts history
James Madison University’s newest residential hall is named for Paul Jennings, a man enslaved by James and Dolley Madison who served the former president and first lady at their home in Montpelier and at the White House. A university official says the naming of Jennings Hall is an attempt to reckon with all of the fourth president’s history.
“While James Madison did many amazing things, such as the formation of our county, he would not have been able to do those things if not for slavery in support of his lifestyle,” says Tim Miller, JMU’s vice president of student affairs. “I think we have to be willing to own all of James Madison and not just the parts that are more palatable.”
After James Madison’s death, Jennings bought his freedom and penned “A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison” about his time working at the White House, the first book about living in the famous American home. Jennings also worked at the U.S. Pension Office, bought a home and started a family.
Early site work for the building began in January of last year with construction beginning in April. The building opened in mid-August and provides housing for 500 students. On Oct. 11, a dedication ceremony to honor Jennings will be held in the lobby of the residence hall. The day starts with a luncheon recognizing Jennings’ descendents, including recent JMU graduate Raleigh Marshall. Afterward, a formal dedication and building tours follow.
Jennings Hall will also have displays to pay homage to the building’s namesake, with a wall focusing on Jennings, his African American heritage and his ancestors.
Miller thinks the building is part of acknowledging all aspects of James Madison’s life.
“It’s one of many things that JMU needs to do. We don’t want to think of this as the end, but as one of many steps to take,” he says. —Emily Carter
Image courtesy Reynolds Community College
Culinary Anticipation
Countdown to the opening of The Kitchens at Reynolds
The Kitchens at Reynolds, the East End’s much-anticipated culinary school, is set to open in the spring of 2020. The 25,000-square-foot campus at 25th Street and Nine Mile Road will offer short-term credential-related training at that time, with culinary classes beginning in the summer.
In addition to Reynolds, the development at 25th and Nine Mile Road features affordable residential apartments and The Market at 25th, a full-service grocery store. The new campus doubles the culinary enrollment capacity for Reynolds, which is good news for local restaurant and hotel owners who are eager to partner with the school through a robust internship program.
Culinary-track students are encouraged to apply in the next few months so that they can work on prerequisites in the spring 2020 semester and then be able to take full advantage of The Kitchens at Reynolds’ classes in the summer and fall 2020 semesters.
The Kitchens will have an on-site greenhouse, expanding Reynolds’ horticulture instruction beyond its Goochland Campus. The school is working closely with Tricycle in Church Hill to offer marketable credentials in sustainable urban agriculture. —Vanessa Del Fabbro
Get on the Bus
Michael Kevin Crossley helps inner-city youth gain access to the university experience. His transportation company, The Crossley & Coleman Group, offers students guided tours of historically black colleges and universities free of charge.
“We’re trying to show inner-city youth that there are options outside of the walls of the inner city,” Crossley says.
The group’s inaugural tour on July 17 took 27 students to Virginia State University, Virginia Union University and Norfolk State University. In the fall, Crossley plans to offer tours of other schools such as Howard University, Delaware State University and Hampton University.
“For me, it’s about giving back to youth and showing that there is a person, there is an entity here that cares about your well-being,” Crossley says. “These kids are our today, and they’re our tomorrow.”
Information about registering for the tours can be found at ccbustransporters.com. Applications are accepted at hbcuedtours@thecrossleycolemangroup.com. —Katherine Weber
Photo courtesy Radford University
Poppa’s Got a Brand-new … Bench?
At Radford University, students and faculty can sit, do homework and phone home on a bench made from recycled plastic bags. In February of last year, the Student Government Association began collecting plastic bags around campus to recycle into a bench. After gathering and counting the 40,000 bags, the student group sent them to Trex, a Virginia-based outdoor deck and furniture company, to melt and mold the bags into a bench to commemorate their effort. The bench was unveiled on campus on April 22, during Earth Week. The university plans to collect enough bags to have a bench for every academic department on campus. —EC
Illustration via Getty Images
Virginia Schools Freeze Tuition for Undergraduates
There is good news for students enrolled in Virginia’s 15 public colleges for 2019-20. For the first time in nearly two decades, every four-year Virginia public college has frozen tuition for the upcoming school year. This was made possible by the allocation of almost $53 million in the state budget to public colleges that freeze in-state tuition for undergraduates. Some schools have also opted to freeze tuition for out-of-state students.
According to data from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, tuition and fees at Virginia’s research institutions based on 2017-18 data are the ninth highest in the nation — fifth highest for comprehensive institutions and eighth highest for two-year institutions. For academic year 2018-19, the estimated total charges at four-year public institutions as a percentage of per capita disposable income was a record high of 50%, up from 48.7% in 2017-18. This is nearly 13 percentage points higher than it was 10 years ago. —VDF
