Virginia Senate Education Committee meeting set for this Tuesday, September 17th at 2:30 pm in Senate Room A Room 305 of the General Assembly building in Richmond.
This meeting will focus on last spring’s campus demonstrations at the following universities: Virginia Tech, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, George Mason University, and the University of Mary Washington.
Senator Ghazala Hashmi, chair of the Senate Education and Health Committee, has called on her committee “to examine the institutional responses to student demonstrations and to invite representatives of the universities, students, faculty, and staff to offer their knowledge and insights on the actions that occurred. The purpose of the fact-finding discussions is to ensure that we have clarity and consistency of policies across the state and to understand whether or not fundamental civil rights, as well as the rights to free speech and expression, were violated.”
She has called for “individuals and organizations involved in or engaged with campus demonstrations, issues of public speech on college campuses, and/or campus discussions focused on the demonstrations to share public testimony and insights with the Committee.”
If you have an interest in listening to the testimony, you have two options.
Those in the Central Virginia area are invited to join us in the General Assembly building at 201 North 9th street, Senate Room A, Room 305. The public entrance is on Broad Street, on the southeast corner of 9th and Broad.
If you want to view the meeting remotely, you will find the link on this page: https://virginia-senate.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=3
MOST IMPORTANT: If you have some first-hand knowledge of the events on these campuses, we are seeking your written testimony. It is preferable that you submit your testimony prior to the meeting on Tuesday. Senator Hashmi will forward your testimony to members of her committee prior to the meeting. Send the testimony directly to her office, senatorhashmi@senate.virginia.gov.