Thursday, October 4, 2012

Integration: Then and Now

Dr. David Sansing moderated Ole Miss: After the Crisis, a panel including people with historic and timely viewpoints of the integration success at Ole Miss. Sansing, a historian himself, wrote The University of Mississippi: A Sesquicentennial History.


Kristen Stephens
Jour 271
Word count: 422 words
Integration panel

UNIVERSITY, Miss.- The University of Mississippi hosted events in commemoration of 50 years of integration, an act that started on the university’s campus. The events ended with an Ole Miss: After the Crisis panel. 
    The panel was moderated by Dr. David Sansing, history professor emeritus, and consisted of Dr. Don Cole, assistant to the chancellor, Valeria Ross, associate dean for student affairs, and Dr. Gerald Walton, previous professor during the admission of James Meredith. The panel members were those that influenced and aided the push for inclusion and the comfort of black students and faculty both 50 years ago and today.
    “I can’t think of any three people that can more appropriately talk about where Ole Miss was, where it is now and where we hope it to be in the future,” Sansing said. 
    During his time at Ole Miss, Walton urged the university to accept more blacks amongst students and faculty. Some students he spoke with, such as Cleveland Donald, were skeptical of coming to Ole Miss. Walton said Donald’s parents were worried about his safety.
    “And of course we had to say, ‘we can’t make any promises. We can’t guarantee that you’ll be completely safe,’” Walton said.
    Donald later agreed to enroll at the university and became its second black student. 
    Cole felt the university has made a significant change including blacks as students, faculty and high chair members, which is evident with Ross, chair of the black history month committee.
    Ross started working at the university as a secretary without a degree in 1990. She worked her way up to become an adviser of the University of Mississippi Gospel Choir, a program that started as an all black group and has grown to more than 110 members from all races. She recalled the struggles students dealt with trying to raise money and sing at local events. The choir had finally had success and performed at the Fulton Chapel.
    “I remember at the end of that event students crying because they realized how much they accomplished with that event,” Ross said.
    Though James Meredith did not attend the events, his friend, Hiram Eastland was present in the audience and spoke on behalf of Meredith.
    “He’s lived this every single day for 50 years,” Eastland said. “As much as James is a part of the past, he is very much [looking toward] the future.”
    Chancellor Dan Jones expressed his gratitude toward the 50 years of integrative commemorative events and the opportunity for the university to think about its past.
    “I’ve been stimulated by the speakers that have come here,” Jones said. “ This will always be a place where we learn from each other.”



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