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Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights released a “Dear Colleague” letter, directing K-12 and higher education institutions to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs by Feb. 28, 2025 or risk losing federal funding.
Bordering the southern end of Longwood’s campus are over a dozen houses representing a once-vibrant community that lived where parking lots, academic buildings, and residence halls stand today. As evidenced by historical records, media reports, and eventually recognized by university administration, then-Longwood College frequently used eminent domain to roll over a predominantly black community in the name of campus expansion.
The Longwood Lancers men’s basketball team lost a tension-packed game against in-state rivals Radford on Saturday, February 8. A shot with just two seconds remaining gave the visiting Highlanders the victory stunning the sold out crowd.
To address the ongoing debate concerning Artificial Intelligence (AI) usage in academics at Longwood, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Larissa Smith assembled an AI Task Force in August 2024. The Task Force has been directed to provide recommendations to Academic Affairs and the university community regarding best practices for AI usage.
Longwood University has faced a growing trend among institutions of Higher Education, which have faced issues of declining enrollment – partially due to the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also due to the rapidly-approaching ‘enrollment cliff.’ The enrollment cliff is a term used often by researchers to describe a phenomenon in higher education created by lower birth rates during the Great Recession of 2007 until 2009.An October 7, 2024 report released by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) revealed low viability risks to Longwood University, but potentially troubling signs for the enrollment of the institution
In 2003, “Wicked” struck the Broadway stage. After its Broadway debut, “Wicked” quickly became one of the most successful Broadway shows of all time, being seen by more than 65 million people across the globe, according to the official Broadway site.After being a hit on Broadway, fans were long awaiting a movie adaptation, which was announced in 2012. Finally, after 12 years of anticipation, and delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, the movie version of “Wicked” was released on November 22, 2024.The musical is based on the life of the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz,” named Elphaba Thropp. The movie begins just after her demise in the original 1939 film, as the Good Witch of the North – Galinda Upland – sheds light on Elphaba’s origin story. While the musical isn’t technically canon, it offers a unique background on the story behind the classic film.The movie itself is a perfect mix of music, action, fantasy, romance, and drama.Not only is it incredibly entertaining, it consists of a talented and well-known cast. Some familiar names are Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Peter Dinklage, and Jeff Goldblum. Everyone in this film gave stellar performances. However, I have mixed opinions on the casting when it comes to vocal ability. While the main cast sounded amazing, I was slightly disappointed in the actors they chose for the Wizard and Madame Morrible. Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh are very talented actors, but I do not think their voices were strong enough to keep up with the rest of the cast. Besides that, the songs in this movie are very well-written and sound stunning. Highlights include Eviro’s slightly-revised version of “Defying Gravity,” Grande and the cast’s gorgeous rendition of “No One Mourns the Wicked,” and Grande’s iconic performance of “Popular.”I was especially impressed with the performances from Grande and Ervio, who played Glinda and Elphaba. While everyone knows that these women are very strong vocal artists, it was impressive to see them sing such difficult songs while acting. This movie overall was really well cast. Another aspect from the film that I enjoyed was seeing the connections to the Wizard of Oz. Many prequels or sequels separate themselves too heavily from the original, but that is not the case with Wicked. The musical included pieces of “The Wizard of Oz,” like the flying monkeys, the yellow brick road and an extremely-brief cameo from the original four, all of which bring back memories of the original Oz. Learning about and seeing a different side of the Wicked Witch of the West was one of the best parts of the film for me. The plot helps remind viewers that someone perceived as the villain in another story may have been misjudged or had a reason for their anger. It also shows how much power specific people have, and how those people can misuse their power.Overall, I loved the film. It was honestly one of the best musicals I have ever seen and I would certainly watch it again. I look forward to the release of the second act, “Wicked: For Good,” in late 2025 – and I know it will not disappoint. All in all, “Wicked” was my favorite movie of 2024 by far, and I would absolutely recommend going to see it. I rate “Wicked” a 5/5.
With half of conference play in the books, Longwood women’s basketball has roared out of the gate to their best start since joining the Big South in 2012. With a 7-1 record entering February, the Lancers have already secured victories over last year’s regular season champions, High Point, and the reigning tournament champions, Presbyterian.
The ever-profitable genre of musician biopics struck again with James Mangold’s “A Complete Unknown,” a surprisingly-solid biopic about the early years of Bob Dylan. Between an eclectic mix of songs, excellent casting, and a stellar final sequence, this movie succeeded in creating a balanced portrayal of an icon where similar biopics have failed, resulting in a film closer to “The Social Network” than “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
On January 20, 2025, students, faculty, staff, and community members representing all parts of Longwood, Hampden-Sydney, and Farmville came together for the student-led Unity March and forum held at the Robert Russa Moton Museum. The date was both Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Inauguration Day. Two hours before the march, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. In an interview, Longwood junior and march organizer Logan Macklin said, “I feel like, on this day, we have two major figures in American history, but on such opposite sides of the spectrum.”
Lancers Vote is a non-partisan civil engagement organization at Longwood University with the main goal being to inform Longwood students on voting and to get them to vote. They set up booths and hold events where they teach students about who’s on the ballot, how to register to vote, what they should do before they vote, and where they can cast their vote.
Longwood’s baseball team held their annual ‘Spooky Slugfest’ on Thursday, October 24 – putting on their silliest costumes for a scrimmage game at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
Todd Phillips’ 2016 hit Joker was a beautiful but ultimately vapid meditation on the cruelty of the mental health system. It masqueraded as an origin story to the Batman supervillain but was quickly and publicly co-opted by men who admired the film’s murderous protagonist, Arthur Fleck, for his live-on-TV murder of a talk show host who mocked him.
Elwood’s Cabinet, Longwood’s student-run food pantry, has been in operation since 2018, supplying students with necessary food, toiletries, and kitchen utensils. The pantry operates between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, and is located on the first floor of the Farmville Wesley Campus Ministry building, across the street from Longwood’s Campus and right next to Hotel Weyanoke.All students are welcome into Elwood’s Cabinet, and while they show their Lancer Card, no information is taken about those who use the service. Nina Bagley, the Executive Director of Elwood’s Cabinet said, “Everything is confidential, we don’t take any names, we don’t take note of what you take. It’s like a little mini grocery store.” Cheryl Steele, associate vice president of student engagement and adviser for Elwood’s Cabinet said, “When people think of Elwood’s Cabinet they often think of food, but there is also laundry detergent, kitchen utensils, and really whatever gets donated to us.” According to those at Elwood’s Cabinet, popular items that students take are macaroni and cheese, protein bars, canned soup, quick snack foods, and hygiene products. Elwood’s Cabinet also has silverware and ceramic plates for students to keep.Due to funds from the Student Government Association (SGA), Elwood’s Cabinet and the Wesley Foundation were able to purchase a freezer which gave them access to frozen vegetables, which were much more well-received than canned vegetables. That said, keeping other perishable items can be a challenge. Hicks said, “Anything that’s perishable such as milk, meat, fresh vegetables are all tough to keep because we don’t know how much will get in and how much will go out. These things aren’t hard to get, but are difficult to get and then give out to students.”The planning to place Elwood’s Cabinet right across the street from campus inside the Wesley Foundation came from Hicks speaking with a former SGA President. The Wesley Foundation was able to offer a stable home to Elwood’s Cabinet, and its location off-campus eased concerns about the stigma of being seen going to a food pantry.Student Representative for Elwood’s Cabinet Michael Leath said, “ Elwood’s Cabinet is all about fighting food insecurity, as someone who has gone through phases of my life where a meal on the table was not guaranteed. Elwood’s Cabinet is very meaningful to me and can be very meaningful to many students on campusElwood’s Cabinet, like many organizations on campus, does struggle at times with campus engagement. According to students, campus engagement and student turnout during operational hours has struggled at times for various reasons. Steele said, “Students may feel embarrassed or that they will be judged for coming out to Elwood’s Cabinet.”Leath said, “Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get ourselves out there as much, but we areworking on that.” Recently, they have worked with other campus organizations on a canned food drive for those impacted by Hurricane Helene, and hope to establish a greater social media presence.However, despite challenges, Elwood’s Cabinet remains dedicated to their mission. “I hope to have no one on Longwood’s campus that has to worry about what to eat or get food from. What I would love to bring to Longwood Students is the basic need of getting food, and not feeling judged or less than others, this happens and it’s a part of life,” Hicks said.
(Editor's note: The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author. This article was submitted by an anonymous contributor.)Donald Trump has officially been elected 47th President of the United States, set to be in office for the next four years. For many people on campus and within Farmville, it’s a cause for celebration and happiness. However, for many others, it’s a scary and distressing time – especially people within the LGBTQ+ community. Trump voters may believe it’s explained by a simple difference in opinion, but for the LGBTQ+ community it is a question of, “Will I still have my rights tomorrow”? This editorial is a call to action for LGBTQ+ allies on Longwood Campus and within Farmville to be prepared to help support queer people during these 4 years and a chance to educate people on Trump’s policies and Project 2025.If you are skeptical of if Trump’s policies will harm the queer community, I introduce you to Project 2025. It is a 900-page public document created by Republican politicians that lists multiple policies they will attempt to enforce if Donald Trump were to become President again. Although Trump claims Project 2025 is not his plan, and that he has no connection to it, a CNN report found at least 140 people who worked for him are involved in its creation.There are many policies within Project 2025 that are dangerous to the well-being of the American people, including people of color and immigrants. Specifically concerning the LGBTQ+ community, gender identity and LGBTQ+ are referred to as “gender ideology” throughout Project 2025 – to which the document is in full opposition. Project 2025 specifically targets the spreading of “gender ideology,” and actively wants to focus its studies on the negative effects of gender-affirming care. These can be found throughout the document, including in Section 11, regarding the education system.This is a dangerous mindset to push, as there are already a multitude of studies that have shown that providing gender-affirming care to transgender individuals decreases the likelihood of suicide and increases happiness. According to a 2022 study published in Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience, “Receipt of gender-affirming interventions, specifically [puberty blockers] or [gender-affirming hormones], was associated with 60% lower odds of moderate to severe depressive symptoms and 73% lower odds of self-harm or suicidal thoughts during the first year of multidisciplinary gender care.” The majority of transgender individuals who ended up de-transitioning (whether permanently or temporarily) did so because of social pressure or discrimination. A 2021 study published in LGBTQ Health states, “Of those who had detransitioned, 82.5% reported at least one external driving factor. Frequently endorsed external factors included pressure from family and societal stigma.” Project 2025 also enforces the idea that same-gender marriage is inferior and wrong compared to heterosexual marriage, baselessly stating that “the average length of same-sex marriages is half that of heterosexual marriages” (Section 14, Department of Health and Human Services).If you are an LGBTQ+ ally and are unsure of how to help your queer friends, the first thing to do is spread awareness. Get educated on the laws and statistics involving LGBTQ+ people. Checking in on your queer friends and offering moral support is also an option. Voting in state and local elections can also really make a difference for LGBTQ+ people, as a large part of the legislation impacting the queer community comes from these levels of government. For example, a bill passed through the state legislature and signed by the governor earlier this year strengthens marriage equality in Virginia. For education and how to help an LGBTQ+ person during these tough times, The Trevor Project is an incredible resource to start with. If you are still skeptical or dismissive of the struggles of LGBTQ+ individuals, it may be helpful to research the experiences of real life transgender and gay individuals. It is always crucial to be open to understanding a perspective that you may not have ever considered. On campus, Longwood University has an LGBTQ+ organization called “PRIDE,” an LGBTQ+ specific group counseling option called “Affirm,” and Farmville has its own queer organization called “Farmville Pride”. The Trevor Project is also an excellent crisis resource.For my fellow queer people on campus and within Farmville, we must remain strong and form a community to brave the storm that’s about to come.___Sources:Bhatt, N., Cannella, J., & Gentile, J. P. (2022). Gender-affirming Care for Transgender Patients. Innovations in clinical neuroscience, 19(4-6), 23–32.Contorno, S. (2024). Trump claims not to know who is behind Project 2025. A CNN review found at least 140 people who worked for him are involved. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/11...James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality.Manning, W.D., Brown, S.L. & Stykes, J. Same-Sex and Different-Sex Cohabiting Couple Relationship Stability. Demography 53, 937–953 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524... Policy | project 2025. Project 2025. (2023). https://www.project2025.org/po... Turban, J. L., Loo, S. S., Almazan, A. N., & Keuroghlian, A. S. (2021). Factors Leading to "Detransition" Among Transgender and Gender Diverse People in the United States: A Mixed-Methods Analysis. LGBT health, 8(4), 273–280. https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2...
On Sept. 21, 2020, the Clark House was officially opened as Longwood’s intercultural center, creating space for students to learn about each other and explore their differences. Located on Main Street behind Pierson Hall, the center became a home for National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) organizations and a place to study and lounge for all students.However, while the Clark House serves as an important resource and space on campus today, the memories that reside within the walls reach further back than many realize. Dr. Theresa Clark, a since-retired social work faculty member and department chair, served the Longwood community for 30 years. Dr. Clark, along with her husband Lorenzo Clark, both grew up in Farmville – experiencing the full impacts of the 1959 Prince Edward County school closures in response to desegregation.As the Clarks settled down together in Farmville in the 1980’s, they built their House in the heart of Farmville – just a short walk from Longwood’s campus.Megan Clark, their youngest daughter who now serves Prince Edward County as commonwealth’s attorney, described what it was like growing up in the home during her time there. She lived in the house until she was 6-years-old. Though her family no longer owns the house, Megan still finds peace within the current use of it, “I’m happy about it,” she said. “I will tell you that when Longwood started expanding, I was always under the impression that the house was going to get torn down. That, of course, made me sad, but I also understand the growth of campus.”“When they decided to keep it, of course, one, that made me happy, but two, when they decided to keep it and use it for multicultural affairs that made me even more happy,” Megan said.However, she joked that not everything about the current state of the house was to her liking. “What I’m not happy about is that my old bedroom is the Deltas’ [Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.] room. It made me a little sad to see that,” she said, laughing. Megan, as well as her older sister and mother, are members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.Shelly Clark-Reed, Megan’s older sister and the Clarks’ eldest daughter, now works as a principal at Prince Edward County Middle School. Clark-Reed, like her sister, reminisced over fond memories of the Clark House.“I had a fabulous childhood, and my home was all I knew,” she said. Unlike her sister, she got to live in the home until she was 12-or-13-years-old. She said loved coming back to their well-organized and well-kept home, as her mother always kept it. Clark-Reed recounted her mother’s tableware parties when family, friends, and sorority sisters would come to attend. She said some of her fondest memories revolve around her mother’s cooking.“My mother was given an award a few years ago, and they asked me to do her intro on video, and I said that my mother could make literally boiled water taste good,” she joked. Clark-Reed said these dinners would often fill the halls with the delightful smell of a home cooked meal – though with the caveat they would all wait for everyone to be home before eating, a rule that set in stone by her motherDr. Clark, who is now retired, focused on the meaning of family and living in the first home she had built with her husband Lorenzo Clark as an excited young couple. During that time, she worked for Longwood University as the first full-time Director of Minority Affairs, so her students and her family would often interact. “We would carve out pumpkins and put them on the deck, the next morning they’d be gone. The next morning, they would be back with notes in them because the students had taken them and done some things to them to make my children happy,” she said.Shortly after, Dr. Clark applied for a new position as a Human Services Social Worker for the university, eventually becoming an Associate Professor of Social Work. She valued the growth of her children at a very young age, discussing how Megan learned how to walk and talk in the house. When she came home from work, she said she was “happy for the family to come together, and we all did what I thought a family was supposed to do. I came in and prepared dinner, no one ate without the other, so my children would have to wait until my husband came home.”Dr. Clark also remembered finishing her master's degree while in the home, as well as even starting her doctorate in what she described as “...challenging times, to say the least.” “Everything in our house centered around raising our children, trying to do it right, serving the community, and education while we were there,” she said. Eventually, the Clark family left the house. Dr. Clark said, “There were mixed feelings, happy and sad. Happy there was going to be some distance between my employment, my profession, and my home. However, after leaving there, even today, I realize those were some of the best times of my life.” Dr. Clark retired from Longwood University in 2018, but is still serving her community to the best of her ability. However, she is now prioritizing her rest. Regardless, Dr. Clark's contributions to the Longwood and Farmville communities continue to manifest themselves through the ongoing service of the Clark Family, and the Clark House’s significance to students today.
At the November 21 meeting of the Faculty Senate, members discussed recommended policy changes to the role of student course evaluations, following recommended policies released by the Student Assessment of Instruction Ad Hoc Committee earlier this academic year.
On October 24, Moss Hall was evacuated at 5:18 p.m. by the Longwood University Police Department (LUPD) due to a “report of a bomb threat,” according to a Longwood Alert. Soon after, at 5:35 p.m., students received another alert announcing the situation had been resolved and the building was cleared for re-entry. The incident comes just over a week after a bomb threat against Grainger Hall that shut the building down for two hours on October 14.
At the Sept. 13 meeting of the Longwood University Board of Visitors, the board voted unanimously to approve revisions to the Use of University Facilities and Freedom of Expression policies. These policies are largely similar to those passed at institutions around Virginia as a response to campus protests for Palestine in April and May.
Located on the Griffin Boulevard side of campus, Academic Residential Community (ARC) Hall and Cox Hall remain closed again this academic year as a result of decreased student enrollment at Longwood.
The Virginia Children’s Book Festival (VCBF) is returning to Longwood University from Oct. 16 to 18, marking 11 years of bringing literature to young readers. For three days, volunteers will host events around campus for visiting students and authors.
