‘That’s where we are the most useful to the community’: 6 fired VSU faculty members ask to be reinstated after ‘unjust’ terminations

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- Six longtime Virginia State University (VSU) faculty members are demanding to be reinstated after they say they were wrongfully terminated last year.

The "Fired Six" held a press conference just off campus Tuesday, Feb. 24 to ask for their jobs back. The group had a combined 88 years at VSU before they said they were abruptly fired from the university's Agricultural Research Station without cause.

The Fired Six, supported by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), said the firings did not follow university policy, and put years of research and millions in federal grant money in jeopardy.

The group includes five tenured faculty members and one tenure track assistant professor.

The group said on Dec. 16, 2025, they were each brought into meetings they said they believed were about the restructuring of the research program. Instead they were told their employment would end immediately and pressured to sign severance agreements on the spot.

When they refused, they were escorted off campus by university police and issued trespass warnings.

"I didn't, I couldn't quite understand what's happening," said Dr. Toktam Taghavi, one of the Fired Six. She was an associate professor of horticulture, and worked at VSU for more than eight years.

"I couldn't even talk and ask questions," Taghavi said, recalling the meeting. "I was just frozen, basically, and very, very weird feeling. I never had this happen to me."

“These faculty were terminated without the required process, without meaningful notice, and without the protections the tenure and university policy are supposed to guarantee." said Chenjerai Kumanyika with the AAUP.

The Fired Six said to this day, they haven't been given the reason for their firings. Some had even been awarded as outstanding staff in 2023 and 2024, including Taghavi and Dr. Vitalis W. Temu.

"These terminations intentionally disrupted the ongoing studies that VSU had already committed to support, thus costing the taxpayers over 10 million in federal and state funded projects, with implications beyond the institution," Temu said.

Before their firings, the group said they were in the midst of important agricultural research projects.

Taghavi said she had a $650k grant to develop active package material to extend the shelf life of strawberries.

Temu was working on a goat foraging research project with a local farm. The farmer, Rose Battle with Maroon Grove Farm in Waverly, said she'd already spent thousands on equipment for the project before it was canceled.

"I would have greatly been able to use the seeds that Dr. Temu and his team were going to provide me," Battle said. "I would have been so grateful to be able to have different forages on my land, because that helps me as a producer, that helps my animals perform better."

Battle held a three-week old goat in her arms. She said in Virginia, there are already limited resources for goat producers. The research being canceled limits them even more.

"So now, it's greatly gonna affect us. And I don't think there's going to be another project like it," Battle said.

8News reached out to VSU for comment on the firings, but a spokesperson said:

"Specific personnel matters are confidential, and the University does not comment on individual employment actions."

They also shared that VSU recently reorganized it's agricultural research program and that it is still fully operational.

After the interviews with the Fired Six, 8News asked VSU specifically about the claims that research and farmers' money were also impacted. At the time of reporting, VSU has not yet responded to that request.