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Strickland remembered as leader, mentor About 200 friends and family gathered at memorial service to honor MU professor By ALLISSA FISHER
BREANNE BRADLEY/Missourian
Russel Zguta, chair of the MU History Department, speaks about Dr. Arvarh E. Strickland on Saturday during the memorial service at United Methodist Church. Strickland was the first African-American professor at MU.
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com Dr. Arvarh Strickland was more than an academic figure. He was a groundbreaker, a mentor, a coach and a friend. About 200 of Dr. Strickland’s colleagues, friends, family and acquaintances gathered Saturday morning at Missouri United Methodist Church to honor the legacy of MU’s first African-American professor. Dr. Strickland died Tuesday at the age of 82. Rev. Amy L. Gearhart, senior pastor at Missouri United Methodist Church, officiated the service and spoke of Dr. Strickland’s values of love, hope, education, racial dignity and responsibility to young people. Among those in attendance were broth-
ers of many generations of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, who surrounded Dr. Strickland’s casket and bid him farewell with the fraternity’s somber hymn. In a letter from the Alumni Association of Tougaloo College, read by Robert E. Weems, Dr. Strickland was remembered as a “giant who paved the way for those to follow behind.” “This should inspire us to do even more to promote the causes he challenged,” Weems read. Russell Zguta, chair of the MU History Department and longtime colleague and friend of Dr. Strickland’s, also spoke during the service. Zguta said Dr. Strickland’s handling of the “sometimes raucous” history department illuminated the importance of common sense and common decency in leadership. “In my first few years at the university, Strickland was one of the few people who continuously asked me how things were
going,” Zguta said. “In a way, he became my informal mentor.” Wilma King of the MU Black Studies Program credited Dr. Strickland as the prime mover in the creation of the program, informing the congregation that it will soon become its own department. In addition to Dr. Strickland’s legacy as a figure of MU academia, he also co-founded the Minority Men’s Network with colleague Eliot Battle. Steve Calloway, who spoke on behalf of Minority Men’s Network, said the current members of the organization are standing on the shoulders of Dr. Strickland’s hard work. “His life stands as an example of what it means to serve our community,” Calloway said. “Because of him we stand taller, we walk proudly, and we speak boldly.” Those who knew Dr. Strickland saw his
Please see STRICKLAND, page 4A
MISSION OF MERCY
Photos by WHITNEY HAYWARD/Missourian
Volunteers work with patients in the cleaning and cavity treatment section of the Mission of Mercy clinic Friday at the Show Me Center. The center was divided into sections based upon what treatments the clinic offered.
Clinic offers free dental care About 1,775 people attended the event to receive free cleanings, extractions and fillings By ABBEY SUSSELL
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com
CAPE GIRARDEAU — When Patricia Wilkins, 49, had tooth pain, she asked her sister to use a pair of dentists’ pliers she found at a yard sale to pull her tooth out. Her sister has pulled out five of her teeth because Wilkins can’t afford to go to the dentist. “She would break the tooth loose first and then just work them out a little at a time,” Wilkins said. “Once the tooth gets out, it’s a relief. I would just go through the pain of letting her pull them out to keep from suffering.” Wilkins has been to a dentist twice in her lifetime. From 9 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday, she waited outside the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau to see a dentist for a third time. One of her wisdom teeth was broken off, and she wanted it pulled. She brought her husband, her sister and her nephew from Greenville to the Missouri Mission of Mercy, a large-scale clinic that provides free dental care to anyone who needs it. Approximately 1,775 people attended the event,
hosted by the Missouri Dental Association and the MDA Foundation. It was the second Mission of Mercy clinic in the state. The first was in 2011 in Springfield, where 1,856 people received care. More than 1,000 dentists, dental hygienists, physicians, nurses and lab technicians volunteered for this year’s two-day event, which provided nearly $962,000 ractions and fillings. Missouri ranks 41st in adult oral health care, according to data collected during the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey, based on the percentage of adults who reported a dental visit in the past year. Outside the Show Me Center on Thursday, people stood, huddled under blankets or umbrellas to avoid the rain, in a line that snaked around the building. They were waiting for the clinic to open at 5 a.m., and some of them had been waiting since Wednesday. Camping tents and plastic tarps were strewn throughout the parking lot and grass, where people had spent the night. Troy Kidwell, 31, from Houston, Mo., was
Please see MERCY, page 5A
Impressions of Jennifer Robinson’s teeth dry before being sent to the lab for a set of partial dentures Friday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.
Head Start program plans to reduce enrollment The partnership at Field School is also set to be eliminated By CAITLIN HOLLAND
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com When Central Missouri Community Action’s Head Start finalizes enrollment for its fall program this summer, it will accept 105 fewer children than in 20122013. Head Start is an early childhood development program that
helps children from low-income families get ready for kindergarten. The Central Missouri program, reacting to about $300,000 in funding cuts due to the federal sequester, announced on Tuesday it will reduce enrollment at its centers, eliminate its partnership with Columbia Public Schools at Field School and transition some child services from classrooms to families’ residences. When Congress failed to come up with a long-term national debt
reduction plan by March 1, a have to stay and really looked at series of automatic budget cuts it from a quality perspective,” he came into play under sequestra- said. “It is critically important tion. The budget, which went into that we maintain a very high effect Wednesday, will stay the standard of quality for our Head same for 10 years unless Con- Start programs.” gress agrees on a new plan. Preis said this proved to be a Darin Preis, Central Missouri challenge because demand for Community Action director, said Head Start and Early Head Start the program’s directors had to has been increasing. reduce the number of children Nearly half of the cuts to the the program can accept to main- programs will occur in Columtain Head Start’s current level of bia, which includes eliminating quality. “I said what are the things that Please see HEAD START, page 4A
DANCER
INDEX
Alex Clayton, a student in Stephens College’s dance program, thrives in the small department. Page 6A
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