Wednesday, Mar 25, 2026

News

Meal swipe donation proposal pushed to 2027

March 25, 2026

Kayla Munecas, Contributing Writer The bill that would allow Virginia university students to donate their unused meal plan credits did not pass the General Assembly this year. State lawmakers voted to continue debating the proposal in the 2027 session. The bill was introduced by Sen. Danica Roem, D-Manassas, and would have allowed students to voluntarily donate their unused meal swipes to be distributed for use by other students at campus dining halls or on-campus food pantries, such as the VCU Ram Pantry, according to a previous report by The CT. Roem was successful in establishing the “Hunger-Free Campus Food Pantry Grant Program” in 2025 to fund campus pantries and fight food insecurity. The new bill would have required universities to allow students to donate their swipes in order to remain in the program and receive grants. Roem told The CT one issue lawmakers took with that part of the proposal was a perceived unfairness of students donating swipes their parents had paid for. Roem feels that assertion assumes students have a traditional, nuclear family, middle-and-upper class path through college and ignores the many students who put themselves through college with grants and with alternative family structures. “Then the next part

Richmond’s sewer system fixes see mixed funding future

March 25, 2026

Heciel Nieves Bonilla, News Editor The plan to strengthen Richmond’s water system could receive $50 million in state funding over the next year — but a utility cost hike in Mayor Danny Avula’s proposed city budget indicate a need for further funding for the city’s infrastructure needs. The state funding is meant to support Richmond’s combined sewer overflow control project and is part of Virginia’s next budget set to be finalized during a special legislative session starting April 23. The sewer project legislators plan to fund is one of several water system improvements in the city’s last capital improvement plan, which covered fiscal years 2022-2026. It involves building structures to divert water during high water intake events, and improving the capacity of the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, a different facility in Southside. DPU public information manager Rhonda Johnson said the proposed state funding would specifically support the design and construction of the Shockoe High Rate Disinfection facility, the largest item in the project and a key element of controlling James River contamination. The $50 million to continue the project is short of the $80 million for several water infrastructure projects Avula requested last year in a letter to former Gov.

Virginia Democrats pass gun reforms following ODU shooting, campus threats

March 25, 2026

Sal Orlando, Assistant News Editor The Virginia General Assembly recently passed several bills reforming gun laws, limiting who can obtain firearms, where firearms are allowed and the movement of select classifications. Debates around the legislation — which is heading to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk — heated up following a deadly shooting at Old Dominion university and threats to universities across the state. Deadly ODU shooting, campus threats On March 12, 39-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh entered the campus of Old Dominion University, shooting and killing ROTC instructor Lt. Col. Brandon Shah. The shooting was not the first in Virginia. It follows the deaths of University of Virginia student athletes Devin Chandler, D’Sean Perry and Lavel Davis Jr. at the hands of another shooter in 2022. Virginia Tech notoriously experienced a mass shooting in 2007 that resulted in the deaths of 32 people and the wounding of dozens of others. Following the ODU shooting — the University of Virginia, Bridgewater College, George Mason University, Randolph-Macon College and Longwood University all faced bomb threats. Timothy Porter, a second-year math student, said he feels safe on campus regarding guns, but does not feel the same in the broader Richmond area. “The area on campus

Remembering VCU icon Jackie ‘Miss Peaches’ Cherry 

March 25, 2026

Bryer Haywood, Staff Writer Jackie “Miss Peaches” Cherry, a warm, familiar figure to many students at VCU, passed away on March 8 at the age of 61. Miss Peaches worked at Shafer Dining Court for 15 years and is fondly remembered for always greeting students with a smile whenever they walked up the stairs. During an interview with VCU News last year, Miss Peaches said she was motivated in her position by her connection to her family and her “other family” in the Dining Services staff, and strived to be kind to students she came across. “I treat people decent every day,” Miss Peaches said. “It’s just my humble way. I’m only doing God’s work. If my grandkids were going to college, I would want somebody to treat them with respect and show them support.” Aramark, the company partnered with VCU to run VCUDine and which employed many of her colleagues, offered a statement on Miss Peaches’s passing. “We are deeply saddened by the passing of our long‑time and cherished colleague, Jacquelyn Cherry, known as Miss Peaches, whose dedication and kindness touched our entire organization. We extend our heartfelt condolences to her loved ones,” Aramark stated. While born in Fauquier

Who are the VCU student government presidential candidates?

March 23, 2026

Sal Orlando, Assistant News Editor VCU’s Student Government Association held a debate for its next president on Monday, beginning a three day voting period for students.  The candidates flexed varying platforms with similar goals of increasing the organization’s outreach, relevance on campus and power in administrative decisions.  The candidates are third-year history and mass communications student and SGA press secretary Natalie Bowen, third-year information systems student and senator Jamal Henry and second-year biomedical engineering student and senator Sadman Mahmood.  The latter two are also members of SGA’s independent financial board, which reviews proposals and disperses funds to student organizations supported by the student activity fee.  Natalie Bowen Bowen is running to increase the SGA’s efficiency and engagement with administration and the student body. She wants to continue what the association is currently doing, but would seek more power that would give weight to its decisions.  “A big part of the role of president is to meet with administration multiple times a week, and I want to be a president that puts my foot down in what the student body wants, and not let the administration try to take advantage of our close position,” Bowen said. Bowen wants to encourage senators

Spanberger names three new members to VCU Board of Visitors

March 18, 2026

Andrew Kerley, Executive Editor Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced three appointments to the VCU Board of Visitors on Wednesday. The new members will fill the vacancies in the university’s highest governing body created by Democratic lawmakers when they removed three members in February. The appointees are lobbyist and VCU alum Heidi Schlicher Cook, Towne Bank president Alexis Swann and Harry Thalhimer, the president of Thalhimer Headwear. They have been invited to the next VCU Board of Visitors meetings on March 23 and 24, according to a VCU spokesperson.  “We warmly welcome our new board members and look forward to working with them,” stated President Michael Rao. “They bring experiences and perspectives that will help VCU advance its vital mission of education and research.” Who are the new members? The Thalhimer family have been major donors to VCU. They have an endowment in the VCU School of Business and they established a scholarship in 1986. They are also the namesake of the Thalhimer Tennis Center on Cary Street. The influential Thalheimers have been around in Richmond for nearly two centuries. They began their business with a historic department store chain downtown and have done extensive philanthropy around the city. Harry Thalhimer is

A century after VCU’s first Black, female nursing class, STEM students reflect on progress

March 18, 2026

Molly Manning, Managing Editor Over a century ago, in an era of sexism and segregation, VCU’s first female graduates crossed the stage. Women studying STEM at VCU today say they appreciate the progress they championed, but divides still exist within certain fields. There is more work to be done. Innis Steinmetz became the first woman to graduate from the Medical College of Virginia in 1920 — and in the same year, the St. Philip Hospital School of Nursing opened its doors to a class of 10 Black, female nursing students. MCV opened the hospital as a separate, segregated school at a time when it was mandated, according to VCU News.  Bessie Conway, Adelaide Royster Thomas and Helena Bell Wooldridge were the first St. Philip’s graduates in 1923. A commencement ceremony was held the following year at the First African Baptist Church, celebrating them as well as the 1924 graduates — Lily Leila DeWeaver, Dorothy Tanner Hooper, Rebecca Thompson Johnson, Thelma Kathleen Jordan, Catherine Ellerson McDowell and Willie Mae Moody.  Though St. Philip shared a director with MCV’s School of Nursing and was aimed at modeling the school, St. Philip students had lesser facilities and resources, limited space and faced discrimination

Virginia’s female lawmakers break records, champion reforms

March 18, 2026

Sal Orlando, Assistant News Editor Women held 42 of the 100 seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates this session — a record number — and they are championing transformative policies ranging from a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive freedom to improving health care  and strengthening workers’ rights.  The 2026 General Assembly session saw the largest number of female delegates in history, with eight new seats being claimed by women since last year’s regular session. The Richmond delegation includes lawmakers as young as progressive newcomer Del. Rae Cousins, 46, and as old as nine-term Del. Betsy Carr. Democratic women currently hold 37 seats — over half of their party’s House majority. There are more Democratic women than total Republicans in the chamber.  Of the 13 House seats that flipped in the 2025 election, 10 were by Democratic women, and more than half of them were by women of color. Richmond area delegates Lindsey Dougherty, D-Chesterfield, May Nivar, D-Henrico, Leslie Mehta, D-Chesterfield and Kimberly Pope Adams, D-Petersburg won four of the 13 flipped seats — with Nivar and Mehta defeating male incumbents. Mehta said during the snowstorm in late January, she and other delegates brought their children to the powerful, historic House floor,

Meal swipe donation proposal pushed to 2027

March 25, 2026

Kayla Munecas, Contributing Writer The bill that would allow Virginia university students to donate their unused meal plan credits did not pass the General Assembly this year. State lawmakers voted to continue debating the proposal in the 2027 session. The bill was introduced by Sen. Danica Roem, D-Manassas, and would have allowed students to voluntarily donate their unused meal swipes to be distributed for use by other students at campus dining halls or on-campus food pantries, such as the VCU Ram Pantry, according to a previous report by The CT. Roem was successful in establishing the “Hunger-Free Campus Food Pantry Grant Program” in 2025 to fund campus pantries and fight food insecurity. The new bill would have required universities to allow students to donate their swipes in order to remain in the program and receive grants. Roem told The CT one issue lawmakers took with that part of the proposal was a perceived unfairness of students donating swipes their parents had paid for. Roem feels that assertion assumes students have a traditional, nuclear family, middle-and-upper class path through college and ignores the many students who put themselves through college with grants and with alternative family structures. “Then the next part of that is these students by and large are 18 years and older, they’re adults,” Roem said. “This is not for the government to police them about. Them choosing what to do with their meal plans, that’s their choice. And if their parent happens to pay for their meal plan, then that’s a conversation they can have with their parent.” Bill died because of politics, not money, Roem says This year, the proposal unanimously passed the Virginia Senate after deliberations, but failed to make it through the House of Delegates Appropriations Committee, a powerful legislative group which, along with its Senate counterpart, scrutinizes bills that would cost money to implement. “We got out of the Senate, it then got into the House and that’s where House versus Senate politics came in,” Roem said. “It just went into the House Appropriations Committee and they were killing a whole lot of bills that day. Only two got out of the committee that day.” Roem said she will continue to push the proposal in 2027 and attempt to get both chambers on board, and maintained that the problem is not how much the bill would cost. “This deals with House versus Senate politics,”

Richmond’s sewer system fixes see mixed funding future

March 25, 2026

Heciel Nieves Bonilla, News Editor The plan to strengthen Richmond’s water system could receive $50 million in state funding over the next year — but a utility cost hike in Mayor Danny Avula’s proposed city budget indicate a need for further funding for the city’s infrastructure needs. The state funding is meant to support Richmond’s combined sewer overflow control project and is part of Virginia’s next budget set to be finalized during a special legislative session starting April 23. The sewer project legislators plan to fund is one of several water system improvements in the city’s last capital improvement plan, which covered fiscal years 2022-2026. It involves building structures to divert water during high water intake events, and improving the capacity of the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, a different facility in Southside. DPU public information manager Rhonda Johnson said the proposed state funding would specifically support the design and construction of the Shockoe High Rate Disinfection facility, the largest item in the project and a key element of controlling James River contamination. The $50 million to continue the project is short of the $80 million for several water infrastructure projects Avula requested last year in a letter to former Gov.

Virginia Democrats pass gun reforms following ODU shooting, campus threats

March 25, 2026

Sal Orlando, Assistant News Editor The Virginia General Assembly recently passed several bills reforming gun laws, limiting who can obtain firearms, where firearms are allowed and the movement of select classifications. Debates around the legislation — which is heading to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk — heated up following a deadly shooting at Old Dominion university and threats to universities across the state. Deadly ODU shooting, campus threats On March 12, 39-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh entered the campus of Old Dominion University, shooting and killing ROTC instructor Lt. Col. Brandon Shah. The shooting was not the first in Virginia. It follows the deaths of University of Virginia student athletes Devin Chandler, D’Sean Perry and Lavel Davis Jr. at the hands of another shooter in 2022. Virginia Tech notoriously experienced a mass shooting in 2007 that resulted in the deaths of 32 people and the wounding of dozens of others. Following the ODU shooting — the University of Virginia, Bridgewater College, George Mason University, Randolph-Macon College and Longwood University all faced bomb threats. Timothy Porter, a second-year math student, said he feels safe on campus regarding guns, but does not feel the same in the broader Richmond area. “The area on campus

Remembering VCU icon Jackie ‘Miss Peaches’ Cherry 

March 25, 2026

Bryer Haywood, Staff Writer Jackie “Miss Peaches” Cherry, a warm, familiar figure to many students at VCU, passed away on March 8 at the age of 61. Miss Peaches worked at Shafer Dining Court for 15 years and is fondly remembered for always greeting students with a smile whenever they walked up the stairs. During an interview with VCU News last year, Miss Peaches said she was motivated in her position by her connection to her family and her “other family” in the Dining Services staff, and strived to be kind to students she came across. “I treat people decent every day,” Miss Peaches said. “It’s just my humble way. I’m only doing God’s work. If my grandkids were going to college, I would want somebody to treat them with respect and show them support.” Aramark, the company partnered with VCU to run VCUDine and which employed many of her colleagues, offered a statement on Miss Peaches’s passing. “We are deeply saddened by the passing of our long‑time and cherished colleague, Jacquelyn Cherry, known as Miss Peaches, whose dedication and kindness touched our entire organization. We extend our heartfelt condolences to her loved ones,” Aramark stated. While born in Fauquier

Who are the VCU student government presidential candidates?

March 23, 2026

Sal Orlando, Assistant News Editor VCU’s Student Government Association held a debate for its next president on Monday, beginning a three day voting period for students.  The candidates flexed varying platforms with similar goals of increasing the organization’s outreach, relevance on campus and power in administrative decisions.  The candidates are third-year history and mass communications student and SGA press secretary Natalie Bowen, third-year information systems student and senator Jamal Henry and second-year biomedical engineering student and senator Sadman Mahmood.  The latter two are also members of SGA’s independent financial board, which reviews proposals and disperses funds to student organizations supported by the student activity fee.  Natalie Bowen Bowen is running to increase the SGA’s efficiency and engagement with administration and the student body. She wants to continue what the association is currently doing, but would seek more power that would give weight to its decisions.  “A big part of the role of president is to meet with administration multiple times a week, and I want to be a president that puts my foot down in what the student body wants, and not let the administration try to take advantage of our close position,” Bowen said. Bowen wants to encourage senators

Spanberger names three new members to VCU Board of Visitors

March 18, 2026

Andrew Kerley, Executive Editor Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced three appointments to the VCU Board of Visitors on Wednesday. The new members will fill the vacancies in the university’s highest governing body created by Democratic lawmakers when they removed three members in February. The appointees are lobbyist and VCU alum Heidi Schlicher Cook, Towne Bank president Alexis Swann and Harry Thalhimer, the president of Thalhimer Headwear. They have been invited to the next VCU Board of Visitors meetings on March 23 and 24, according to a VCU spokesperson.  “We warmly welcome our new board members and look forward to working with them,” stated President Michael Rao. “They bring experiences and perspectives that will help VCU advance its vital mission of education and research.” Who are the new members? The Thalhimer family have been major donors to VCU. They have an endowment in the VCU School of Business and they established a scholarship in 1986. They are also the namesake of the Thalhimer Tennis Center on Cary Street. The influential Thalheimers have been around in Richmond for nearly two centuries. They began their business with a historic department store chain downtown and have done extensive philanthropy around the city. Harry Thalhimer is

A century after VCU’s first Black, female nursing class, STEM students reflect on progress

March 18, 2026

Molly Manning, Managing Editor Over a century ago, in an era of sexism and segregation, VCU’s first female graduates crossed the stage. Women studying STEM at VCU today say they appreciate the progress they championed, but divides still exist within certain fields. There is more work to be done. Innis Steinmetz became the first woman to graduate from the Medical College of Virginia in 1920 — and in the same year, the St. Philip Hospital School of Nursing opened its doors to a class of 10 Black, female nursing students. MCV opened the hospital as a separate, segregated school at a time when it was mandated, according to VCU News.  Bessie Conway, Adelaide Royster Thomas and Helena Bell Wooldridge were the first St. Philip’s graduates in 1923. A commencement ceremony was held the following year at the First African Baptist Church, celebrating them as well as the 1924 graduates — Lily Leila DeWeaver, Dorothy Tanner Hooper, Rebecca Thompson Johnson, Thelma Kathleen Jordan, Catherine Ellerson McDowell and Willie Mae Moody.  Though St. Philip shared a director with MCV’s School of Nursing and was aimed at modeling the school, St. Philip students had lesser facilities and resources, limited space and faced discrimination