Bill Requiring VA Universities To Pay Reparations Passes House

RICHMOND, VA — Five public colleges in Virginia with ties to slavery would be required to pay reparations under legislation that passed last week in the Virginia House of Delegates.

According to the bill, HB 1980, which passed the House 61-39 on Thursday, all five schools built before 1865 would have to identify the enslaved people who worked on the campuses. The public schools would also have to offer full four-year scholarships or economic development programs to descendants of those who were enslaved.

The five Virginia schools, maintained by slave labor, are the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Military Institute, the College of William & Mary and Longwood University.

Del. David Reid (D-32nd), who represents eastern Loudoun County, introduced the legislation.

“HB 1980 is a small but important step to acknowledge and address that the foundational success of [the] five universities ... was based on enslaved labor," Reid said in a statement.

Reid said he hopes the bill will be sent to Gov. Ralph Northam's desk for approval "so that we can begin to address the multigenerational impact of slavery here in Virginia.”

If passed in the state Senate, the bill would take effect in the 2022-23 academic year. The schools cannot use state money or tuition revenue to pay for the scholarships or programs. The funds would have to come from the schools’ endowments or from special fundraising efforts.

Northam has called for a two-week special session that is scheduled to begin Wednesday. The special session could give the state Senate an opportunity to review the bill.

The bill would create the Enslaved Ancestors College Access Scholarship and Memorial Program.

The five schools would be required on an annual basis to pay reparations by creating either a "college scholarship or community-based economic development program for individuals or specific communities with a demonstrated historic connection to slavery that will empower families to be lifted out of the cycle of poverty.”

The bill also would require the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to work with the schools to establish guidelines for the implementation of the program and to collect information annually on the implementation of the program and report the information to the chairs of the House Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Education, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations, and the Virginia African American Advisory Board.

In 2019, Georgetown University launched a fundraising effort to assist the living descendants of the 272 enslaved men and women sold by the school’s Jesuit founders.