Medical College of Virginia

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The Medical College of Virginia Health Sciences Division of Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center


Established:	1838
Type:	Public university
Endowment:	US $247 million^[1]
Dean:	Jerome Strauss, III
Location:	Richmond, Virginia, USA
Campus:	Urban, 52.4 acres (21.2 ha).
Website:	www.vcu.edu/medcenter/

The Medical College of Virginia (MCV) is the name of Virginia Commonwealth University's medical campus located in downtown Richmond, Virginia. MCV is composed of five schools of the Health Sciences; Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Health Professions, as well as the University hospital.

1 History
2 VCU/MCV naming controversy
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

Finished in 1845, the first MCV building was built in the Egyptian-revival style

Sanger Hall, part of the VCU medical campus

The school was founded in 1838 as the Medical Department of Hampden-Sydney College. It received an independent charter from the General Assembly in 1854 and became the Medical College of Virginia, and shortly thereafter transferred all its property to the Commonwealth and became a state institution in 1860. During the Civil War, the school remained open and graduated a class every year throughout the conflict. MCV is the only Southern medical school still in existence to have done so.

A rival medical school, the College of Physicians and Surgeons (later the University College of Medicine), was founded by Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire in 1893. The Flexner Report of 1909 suggested that the two schools would be better off merging, which they did in 1913, retaining the Medical College of Virginia name.

In 1968, MCV merged with the Richmond Professional Institute to form Virginia Commonwealth University. During this merger, the agreement stipulated that MCV would retain its name in perpetuity. The exact title by the act is "The Medical College of Virginia Health Sciences Division of Virginia Commonwealth University."

The Centennial Dome (later renamed Larrick Student Center) was built on the campus in 1961, and was a major part of the city's commemoration of the centennial of the American Civil War.

[edit] VCU/MCV naming controversy

A policy statement by the VCU administration in 2004 caused some confusion and controversy over the MCV name. A separate institution before 1968 and located across town from the Monroe Park Campus, MCV retains much of its separate identity, and students and alumni have voiced protest over a policy statement by the administration promoting the name "VCU Medical Center" over MCV.

The new name caused some confusion over when which name applied. In a 2004 internal e-mail, a Venn diagram showed the name "VCU Medical Center" applying only to the School of Medicine and MCV Hospitals, while the rest of MCV facilities were referred to as the VCU Health System. The campus retains the MCV name, with signs on buildings and around campus reading "VCU Medical Center" with "MCV Campus" posted in smaller type below. The MCV Foundation and alumni organizations have also retained the MCV name.

The Act of General Assembly for creating VCU, H 125, §23-50.7, 1 March 1968, allowed for the retention of the MCV name and would only pass if it was amended to read, “The colleges, schools, and divisions heretofore existing as The Medical College of Virginia shall, as of July 1, 1968, be designated The Medical College of Virginia, Health Sciences Division of Virginia Commonwealth University.” As recently as 2005 (Res. No. 72) the campus was referred to by the Virginia General Assembly as "The Medical College of Virginia Health Sciences Division of Virginia Commonwealth University."

In general, the current administration led by President Eugene P. Trani has pursued a policy of promoting the VCU name as a unified identity to the outside world. This policy has included requesting faculty and staff to use the VCU name instead of MCV in any official meetings or correspondence. One reason for the name change cited in the 2004 e-mail was a 2003 front-page USA Today article which incorrectly referred to MCV as the "Virginia Medical College, a teaching arm of the University of Virginia."

In 2005 the Medical Society of Virginia passed a resolution requesting an explanation of VCU's statutory authority to change the name.^[2] The policy of promoting the name "VCU Medical Center," however, has received no response from the General Assembly to date.