University Plans To Spend Thousands Training New Student Revolutionaries

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By Rob Shimshock

Students at Virginia Commonwealth University are applying for $2,500 awards from a Social Justice Fund, which will finance student projects focused on social justice activism.

VCU is offering four $2,500 awards to teams of students with faculty mentors who work on social justice projects, reports VCU News. The fund is administered by VCU’s Division for Inclusive Excellence.

“Proposals must demonstrate how the innovative solution will address and tackle structural, political, economic or social injustice through the lens of diversity, including race, age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, national origin, disability status, political affiliation, veteran status and/or socio-economic background,” reads the application instructions.

To apply, the students and faculty mentor must submit a proposal including background info and a solution, a budget, a personal statement, and a mentor letter of support.

“The Student Social Justice Fund came out of expressed interest and intrigue into social justice issues in the local community and in the campus community by our students,” said Corey Boone, who facilitates the Social Justice Fund and serves as assistant director at VCU’s Office of Events and Special Programs, to VCU News. “We’re hoping that the students really get a chance to see the power that they have to be able to affect change, work on how to find innovative solutions to problems and go through the discovery and experience of implementing those solutions.”

Social Justice Fund projects must be executed during the spring and fall of 2017, and teams will present their accomplishments in the spring of 2018.

VCU’s Division for Inclusive Excellence did not respond to requests for comment.