The President’s Blog

Marching in the MLK Jr. parade was a joyful experience. Nobody minded the snow or the cold. It really set the stage for today’s inauguration. Thanks to all the faculty and staff who marched and/or rode in this great event.

Tuesday’s inauguration will be the most significant inauguration in my lifetime; it may be the most significant in history to this point. Barack Obama’s election to the presidency of the United States of America is a remarkable event, not only for our country, but for the world and the way the world sees us. It doesn’t matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat. This is big.

I grew up in a small housing development near a textile mill in South Carolina during the 1950’s, and I lived with racism and the separation of races as a fact of life during those years. As a kid, I thought it was just the way things were. As a thirteen year old, I watched the freedom riders on television and remember clearly the violence of the attempts to integrate the University of Mississippi and George Wallace’s stand at the doors of the University of Alabama. I remember watching and reading about the marches in Selma, the church bombings in Birmingham, the rallies in Washington, and about the significant men and women who made it all happen. I wasn’t a participant; I was just a teenage observer, more interested in cars and girls than anything else.

The men who opened my eyes and who really helped my understanding of the importance and value of the changes that were going on were Harvey Gantt, a black South Carolinian who was studying in Iowa, and Robert Edwards, president of Clemson University. Harvey wanted to come back home to South Carolina to study architecture. He wanted to attend Clemson University, the school I had wanted to attend since I was in the eighth grade. When the decision was made to accept him, I waited to see what would happen there. Would there be fiery bombs? Would there be shots in the night? No. Not at Clemson, the first public college to be integrated in the state.
Dr. Edwards welcomed Harvey Gantt to Clemson and made it clear to all who could hear and read that Harvey Gantt was welcome. I entered Clemson the year after Gantt started, and occasionally saw him in the dining hall and rarely on the campus–architecture students are notorious for spending 18-20 hours a day in the architecture building. He, and Dr. Edwards, both played a large part in my growing up, and I grateful for their courage and for their leadership.

It seems so silly at times to think that society made such a big fuss over a man who wanted to go to college, or, to vote, or to ride in the front of the bus. It wasn’t silly; it was tragic, and how wonderful it is to live in different days. The juxtaposition of Martin Luther King Jr.’s holiday and the inauguration of the first black president of the United States is a powerful reminder of how far we have come in the past sixty years. We are not all the way to the mountaintop, but I think we are on the right road.

I just returned from a meeting with Pellissippi State’s Global Ambassadors, a new designation for students who receive service scholarships to assist with study abroad programs. It is so encouraging and inspiring to meet these bright young men and women who are engaged in exploring the world and all the possibilities before them.
There are so many people in our community who never consider the possibility, or perhaps never think they have the opportunity, to study or even visit another country. These Global Ambassadors hope to change that by speaking about their experiences and about assisting our students in taking the first steps toward a new and potentially life-changing event–a study tour abroad.

Even in a difficult financial environment there are often funds available for students to pursue their dreams of studying abroad. Just as important as the money, however, is the encouragement provided by faculty, staff, and students to take the first step and the Global Ambassadors should help us move our programs forward.

During Pellissippi State’s second year of involvement with an organized study abroad program, we are among the top 25 community colleges in number of students who study abroad. With the help of our Global Ambassadors, I think we have the potential to enter the ranks of the top 10 community colleges in the nation in this category.

Congratulations to our Global Ambassadors, and thanks to all of them for inspiring others to dream big.