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Eugene P. Trani: historian, scholar, developer, VCU

president extraordinaire.

Prior to May the mention of Eugene P. Trani's name

largely rang bells of success for VCU students and faculty, and the Richmond elite, but the past six

months have morphed those praising undulations into cries of confusion. Confusion, based in rumors of

scandals (Philip Morris and ex-Richmond Police Chief Rodney Monroe), that translates into frustrations for those invested both financially and altruistically in the

selection of VCU's next president.

The succeeding president will be selected with the

assistance of a search committee that will include six Board of Visitor members, the largest group represented in the committee. In 2006 the Board

approved the VCU 2020 Vision for Excellence. The

vision dedicated to "enhance the student experience

and aggressively build the research enterprise." That

research enterprise has grown from $90 million in

1997 to $230 million in 2007. Holding true to their

promise, the Board, Trani, and his 19-year tenure have

unflaggingly built the research enterprise, bringing

otherwise unavailable opportunities to VCU students.

But Trani's tenure has also seen VCU's student body increase to nearly 32,000 and a 9.4 percent increase

in tuition and fees from Fall 2007 to Fall 2008. For

the average student that means increased class size, longer lines at the financial aid office, and hundreds

of out-of-pocket dollars spent on the costs of higher

education. For faculty and staff it means more strange faces and fewer resources to accommodate the number of students in their classrooms and their

dining halls.

With President Trani's resignation in late June 2009

and the selection of a new president, the 2008-2009 academic school year is the stage for students, faculty, and staff to participate in molding their learning

community into the vision they are seeking. For more information about the VCU presidential selection process or to submit a presidential nomination visit www.presidentsearch.vcu.edu.

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ABOVE: Protest actions around the RNC were targeted at preventing buses full of Republican delegates from entering the Excel Center. Ramsey County sheriffs hold back the crowd as they attempt to create a blockade.

THE CLASH

Protest Nat"

Photos and reporting by

the pepper spraying, a man in a wheelchair is treated by street medics. Minutes later, both the attending medics and their patient would be arrested as police cleared the streets of St. Paul.

and youth form a blockade to prevent Republican delegates from Connecticut from entering Excel Center grounds on day one of the RNC. form a line between protestors and the arresting officers on the capitol grounds minutes before the start of a student anti-war march to the Excel Center that would result in the final mass arrest of the week.

arriving, the National Guard units began pepper spraying and tear-gassing the crowd.

weapons to break up lines of protesters. In this photo a protestor sits down in an attempt to prevent the horses from moving through the crowd.

ABOVE: As local law enforcement proved unable to stop the protest actions, the Minnesota National Guard were called in to break up the mass of protestors just outside the Crown Plaza Hotel where the Texas delegation were housed for the week.

the clash

Protesting the Republican National Convention

Photos and reporting by JAKf CUNNINGHAM

LEFT: Members of local law enforcement attempt to hold protestors back while they remove two a rrestees snatched off the permitted state capitol grounds on the last day of the RNC, Thursday, Sept. 4.