Thursday, October 4, 2012

Overby Center Wraps up Integration Coverage




Gerald Walton address the crowd during "Ole Miss After the Crisis" at the Overby Center Thursday morning.



MarKeicha Dickens
JOUR 271
October 4, 2012
Integration
448 Words
Overby Center Wraps up Integration Coverage
UNIVERSITY, Miss-- Kimbrely Dandridge is the first female black Associated Student Body President, Courtney Pearson is the first black Homecoming Queen, and it has been 50 years since James Meredith integrated Ole Miss. But the cafeteria is still segregated, the historically black sororities and fraternities don’t have their own houses, and the Grove on Saturdays is still a predominantly white environment. So has Ole Miss really progressed in terms of race?
“The exterior of many situations may seem different, but the interior rarely changes. African American enrollment is limited and because of who we are, the attitudes of previous times haven’t really changed; they’re just covered up,” said sophomore Beth Triplett. The panel at the Overby Center Thursday morning begs to differ.
Ole Miss Historian David Lansing hosted “Ole Miss after the Crisis” where a panel of three alumni discussed their own personal experiences at the University. Gerald Walton, former Liberal Arts Dean, made some bold moves in 1962 that endangered his academic career. The then recent graduate of The University of Southern Mississippi signed a document stating that the riots of 1962 were indeed not the fault of the US Marshals.
“He did the right thing,” said Lansing of Walton’s situation. His time here included witnessing students from Rust and Tougaloo Colleges being verbally attacked and unwelcome on campus. Walton says that he knows that any student from any college will be welcome on campus today.
Donald Cole’s story was quite a bit different from Walton’s. Cole, Assistant Provost, was expelled from the university in 1972 for protesting what many today would call “asinine” problems. They included but were not limited to, black faculty members, integrated sports teams, and being treated equally in the union.
Cole entered the university in 1968 thinking it was completely integrated, but soon came to find out that many students, faculty, and staff still didn’t want to affiliate themselves with black people. He says we’ve definitely come a long way, but still have a long way to go.
Valerie Ross, who is currently working on her Doctorate’s degree, started her career here at the university back in 1990 as a secretary. She acknowledged the fact that there are more leadership opportunities for black students on campus today compared to the 1990’s and even recalled a Black Student Union protest of the use of the Confederate Flag.
“It got real antsy,” said Ross. Police were even called in to protect the protesting students.  Ross says she wants black students to not just graduate from the school and leave, but be proud of Ole Miss, and come back. 

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