A renewal of the sense of urgency from the civil-rights movement is needed to close the nation’s educational achievement gap, Virginia Union University graduates were told yesterday. “To be sure, education is the new civil-rights agenda,“ Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones told graduates of his alma mater. Fifty-five years after the U.S. Supreme Court decision outlawing school segregation, much work still needs to be done to change the paradigm of educational opportunities, he said.

A former Richmond city schools official was named acting president of Virginia Union University yesterday. Claude G. Perkins replaces Virginia Union President Belinda Anderson, who had said she would step down June 30. “We felt that we needed to protect the continuity of the university,“ said Frank Royal, chairman of the Virginia Union board of trus tees.

Virginia Commonwealth University’s swelling enrollment could help attract development to Richmond’s North Side. A Georgia-based company is proposing to build a 192-unit apartment complex along Chamberlayne Avenue that would be geared for students at VCU and Virginia Union University. The gated complex would be built on 11 acres east of Chamberlayne, just north of its interchange with Interstates 95 and 64, between Mitchell and Bacon streets. The industrially zoned property includes the vacated, fenced-off remains of the Usry mobile-home court.

Radio personality Tom Joyner will use his nationally syndicated show to help raise funds for Virginia Union University. Virginia Union also announced yesterday that it has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Dominion Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Dominion Resources. The grant will be used for student scholarships and academic programs.

Next to the job Barack Obama will start in January, the presidency of Virginia Union University may be the toughest gig around. Imagine inheriting the helm of a historically black college with relatively threadbare facilities in an increasingly competitive higher education environment. Did we mention that the nation is in the midst of a major recession?

In a move she described as being in the university’s best interest, Belinda Childress Anderson said yesterday that she will resign as president of Virginia Union University. Anderson said in a statement that she wants “to make way for the university to secure new leadership positioned to meet new challenges.“ Anderson said she had notified Frank Royal, chairman of the university’s board of trustees, of her decision.

Virginia Union University President Belinda Childress Anderson announced today that she plans to step down to pursue new opportunities. Anderson, the 11th president of the small, historically black university in Richmond, did not give a reason for her decision. In a statement, she said she wanted “to make way for the university to secure new leadership positioned to meet new challenges.“

AND OLYMPIA MEOLA Times-Dispatch Staff Writers Pop, comedic and political royalty cruised through Virginia yesterday as rapper Jay-Z, Chris Rock and Caroline Kennedy stumped on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama. Meantime, three of Sen. John McCain’s fellow former Vietnam War POWs began a threeday Virginia campaign swing on his behalf.