Elizabeth Johnson Rice, who is one of the Richmond 34, said Wednesday that the group welcomed Northam to the VUU event and had not been reached by student representatives before they asked Northam to reschedule. Rice wrote a letter to Northam early Wednesday objecting to the visit being canceled.

She added that the Richmond 34 are split on whether Northam should stay in office. But, she added, those she has contacted are open to public dialogue on the issue.

“In my letter, I talked about having a forum in the near future so the governor and the students and the community could talk about this issue,” Rice said. “Hopefully that will happen also.”

Northam has made few public appearances since the Feb. 1 discovery of the racist yearbook photo, which shows a man in blackface and another man in a Ku Klux Klan robe. He apologized that day, but the following day he said he believes he was not in the photo. However, on Feb. 2 he disclosed that he wore blackface as part of a Michael Jackson costume for a dance contest in San Antonio in 1984.

The governor has so far rejected widespread calls to resign, and has instead embarked on a tour of private visits with black leaders in the state.