Dr. Vitalis TemuAAUP
Six faculty members fired from Virginia State University's Agricultural Research Station just before Christmas are demanding their jobs back, saying their terminations were not only unlawful but also jeopardized more than $10 million in federally funded research and left farmers scrambling.
The group, which has taken to calling themselves the "Fired Six," held a press conference Tuesday just outside the historically Black university's campus in Petersburg, Virginia, making their first public appearance since being abruptly dismissed on Dec. 16, 2025. The six — five tenured professors and one tenure-track assistant professor — say they were called into individual meetings under the pretense of discussing the research station's restructuring, only to be told their employment was ending immediately.
"I couldn't even talk and ask questions," said Dr. Toktam Taghavi, an associate professor of horticulture who spent more than eight years at VSU. "I was just frozen. I never had this happen to me."
The group says they were pressured to sign severance agreements on the spot, without time to review the documents or consult legal counsel. When they refused, they were escorted off campus by university police, stripped of their IDs, keys, and equipment, and issued trespass warnings — despite no allegations of misconduct.
To date, they say they have received no written explanation for their dismissals. Some, including Taghavi and agricultural research expert Dr. Vitalis Temu, had been recognized as outstanding staff as recently as 2024.
"These terminations intentionally disrupted ongoing studies that VSU had already committed to support, costing taxpayers over $10 million in federal and state-funded projects," Temu said. He added that the firings also wasted funds already invested in specialized equipment and facilities that cannot be repurposed elsewhere.
The research station, part of VSU's College of Agriculture, serves small and part-time farmers across Virginia — many of whom are now left without support. Taghavi had secured a $650,000 grant to develop packaging materials to extend the shelf life of strawberries. Temu was in the middle of a goat foraging study with Rose Battle, a farmer in Waverly, Virginia, who had already purchased equipment for the project.
"I would have greatly been able to use the seeds that Dr. Temu and his team were going to provide me," said Battle, who was holding a three-week-old goat as she addressed reporters. "There are already limited resources for goat producers in Virginia. Now it's going to greatly affect us — and I don't think there's going to be another project like it."
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is backing the Fired Six, arguing that VSU violated foundational principles of academic due process, which require written charges and an opportunity to respond before any tenured faculty member can be dismissed. "These faculty were terminated without the required process, without meaningful notice, and without the protections that tenure and university policy are supposed to guarantee," said Chenjerai Kumanyika of the AAUP, which is calling on VSU's governing board to act when it meets April 23-24.
VSU offered little in response. A university spokeswoman said personnel matters are confidential and described the dismissals as "programmatic adjustments" to align the College of Agriculture with the institution's strategic goals, adding that the college "remains fully operational."
The firings come amid sweeping federal changes to agricultural research funding and USDA operations under the Trump administration — shifts that researchers and farmers say could further undermine the station's mission and the communities it serves.
United Campus Workers and other labor advocates joined the faculty members Tuesday, linking their cause to a broader debate in Richmond over whether to extend collective bargaining rights to public employees. Current proposals moving through the Virginia General Assembly would expand those rights — but the House version excludes public higher education employees.
"This would not happen if we had a union," said Ian Mullins of United Campus Workers. "We would be able to defend ourselves."
Lawmakers have until mid-March to finalize the legislation before it heads to Gov. Abigail Spanberger.
