UNIVERSITY, Miss- The 50 -year mark
of integration at the University of Mississippi is a celebration of improvements
rather than a remembrance on years before integration as a discussion panel
held shows the steps taken since September 30, 1962.
David
Sansing, Valeria Ross, Donald Cole, and Gerald Walton represented the last
discussion panel for the 50th years of integration celebration on
Thursday about Ole Miss’s small steps toward a more diverse university.
“
Where Ole Miss was, where it is now, and where we hope it will be in the
future,” Sansing, a history professor at Ole Miss, said to set the stage for
what the discussion would be about as he introduced the speakers.
Each
of the speakers expressed positive steps Ole Miss has taken since integration.
They did not mention much about the hard times before James Meredith, the first
African American to earn a degree from Ole Miss, stepped foot on the campus.
The
first speaker, Gerald Walton, a professor in 1962, worked hard to get Ole Miss
to where it is today; who was humble about how he has helped Ole Miss get to
this point of improved racial tensions.
Walton
took a different angle in talking about the celebration explaining the
importance of the second African American male to attend Ole Miss, Donald
Cleveland, instead of the first, James Meredith. Cleveland began Ole Miss in
1963 and as an alumnus he helped start the African American Studies program at
Ole Miss. This program allows students to learn more about the history of
African Americans.
“We
have a lot of things to be guilty of, it is simply going to get better,” Walton
said.
The
second speaker of the panel, Donald Cole, describes that Ole Miss is a
completely different university than it was 50 years ago.
“Sports
has played such an important role in integration of America,” Cole said.
Cole
was the only one that mentioned how sports helped with the integration process
and played a role when he was a student in 1968.
The
last speaker Valeria Ross revealed the improvements Ole Miss is making right
now. She plays a role in administration and active with the University of
Mississippi gospel choir, which is not composed of just African American
students. She mentioned that the only
improvement needed is active African American alumni that support Ole Miss.
Many
important guests like Chancellor Dan Jones and Arthur Meredith, James
Meredith’s brother, attended the discussion panel.
“
I honestly did not know much about the history they explained,” said Ellen
Garret, audience member after the panel discussion.
The history of Ole
Miss, the positive progresses taken after integration, and what steps can be
taken now inspired the crowded Overby Center during the panel discussion.
No comments:
Post a Comment