Land Acknowledgement and Labor Recognition statements now posted on Inclusive VT website

From: Office of Inclusion and Diversity

University Council recently endorsed two university level statements that recognize and honor the history of Virginia Tech and its campuses in Blacksburg and across the state.

The Land Acknowledgement statement and Labor Recognition statement, which were developed and revised over several years by students, faculty, staff, and alumni who served on the Virginia Tech History Council, to more inclusively encompass the histories of the university and Blacksburg, to promote a fuller understanding of the university’s impact on Native Peoples and Black communities, and to articulate the university’s commitment to change its trajectory and become a more inclusive community in the spirit of Ut Prosim (That I May Serve).

Those two statements can be found on the InclusiveVT website.

The Land Acknowledgement statement affirms the cultural significance of the Blacksburg campus land to the Monacan and Tutelo tribes whose communities stretched across much of the commonwealth. It also acknowledges the significance of the Morrill Land-Grant College Act (1862) in the financing and founding of Virginia Tech by the forced removal of Native populations both locally and in the western states. The statement reaffirms Virginia Tech’s commitment to changing its role in the trajectory of Native peoples by providing continued recruitment of Native students, faculty, and staff, diversifying course offerings and programming, and supporting Native American student organizations.

The Labor Recognition statement, which was revised over time as new historical evidence and understanding came to light, acknowledges the Blacksburg campus sits on land that previously was the site of Smithfield, Solitude and other plantations that used hundreds of enslaved Black people to work the land. It also recognizes that slaves generated the wealth that financed Virginia Tech's predecessor institution, the Preston and Olin Institute; worked on the construction of its buildings; and local Black people played crucial roles in providing services to Virginia Tech students, faculty and staff since its founding but were not permitted to enroll until 1953.