The Black experience in honors college

PALEIF RASPBERRY thedmfeatures@gmail.com

The Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College has been a distinguished institution at the University of Mississippi for more than 25 years. The program prides itself on prioritizing diversity and giving students with different backgrounds and stories the opportunity to pursue intellectual endeavors.

In honor of Black History Month, some students and faculty shared their experiences in the Honors College and expressed why diversity within it is important.

Black members of the Honors College Minority Engagement Council, better known as HOCOMEC, discussed their varying perspectives of the Black experience in the honors college.

“Being a minority in the honors college has opened unique doors for me,” De- shauna Lee Vaughn, co-president of HOCOMEC, said.

Lee Vaughn explained that her position within the program allows her to have conversations with the school’s leadership and fellow members of HOCOMEC.

Anna Buckley, a freshman at the university, gave a different perspective.

“Coming to the honors college was hard,” Buckley said.

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One thing that helped her make the adjustment was forming relationships with other Black students that went through a similar adjustment period.

One of the highlights of her experience so far was hearing Markeeva Morgan speak at the honors college’s fall 2022 convocation. Morgan was the first Black person to graduate from the program. Buckley said the speech inspired her.

“I think a lot of the time when you think of Ole Miss you think of people that look a certain way,” Buckley said, referring to the university’s status as a predominantly white institution.

Seeing Morgan reminded her that she can be Black, successful and receive an education from Ole Miss.

Similarly to Buckley, freshman Layla Ashley experienced culture shock. Ashley is from Chicago and had gone to predominantly Black schools until she came to the university.

“Going from being in a space where I don’t feel like the odd person out, at least appearance wise, to a (predominantly white institution) is a very obvious thing,” Ashley said.

But not all Black students find themselves out of their element. Yasmine Ware, a freshman, expressed that she has had a positive experience being a minority in the honors college. Coming into the program wasn’t a big shift for her because she came from a background of going to predominantly white institutions.

“It’s not a culture shock for me,” Ware said.

However, Ware said that she is in the honors college senate and wishes that there was more representation.

“It’s an honor to be a part of a group of leadership, but I don’t feel like it truly expresses all the diversity of the honors college,” Ware said.

Another topic that some of the students discussed was their appreciation for the Honors 101 and 102 courses offered. Even though they might be one of the only minorities in the room, being able to talk about their experiences and opinions in an academic setting focused on identity is something they expressed gratitude for.

Ethel Scurlock, the first African American dean of the honors college, shared her thoughts about the program’s initiative to increase and maintain racial diversity, especially for Black students. She starts by explaining that it’s important because 38% of Mississippi’s population is African American and Mississippi has the highest percentage of African Americans in the United States.

“I want more African American students to really understand that the honors college is a place where they can come and be stretched imaginatively and intellectually,” Scurlock said.

Scurlock highlighted the importance of empathy as a value for an institution that sends leaders into the world.

“If students have never had a conversation with the different groups of people they are leading, how can they be empathetic,” Scurlock said.

Scurlock believes that diversity makes everybody better.

“It’s important to have different voices at the table. If all of us think the same, look the same, act the same, approach problems the same, it’s redundant,” Scurlock said.

Courageous Black head coaches at the University of Mississippi in the past have paved the way for the coaches of today and the future.

Ken Gibson was not only the first Black coach at Ole Miss but also the first coach for the women’s track and field program at the university in 1985. Gibson passed away in 2022 at the age of 88. However, his legacy lives on through every Black coach that has followed in his footsteps.

Gibson also oversaw men’s track and field and the cross country programs.

During his three-year tenure at the university, Gibson’s teams won an NCAA team title along with five individual national championships.

Following his final season as head coach of the Rebels, Gibson served on the U.S. Olympic coaching staff and coached two of his athletes in the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.

Four years after Gibson’s departure, Ole Miss hired its second Black head coach, the first in a major sport.

Oklahoma State assistant basketball coach Rob Evans received his first head coaching job at Ole Miss in 1992 after serving as an assistant coach for 21 seasons.

Evans played basketball at Lubbock Christian University, where he met fellow freshman and white teammate Gerald Turner.

Evans knew that Turner had played alongside few Black players, which pushed Evans to form a relationship with his teammate. Close to three decades later, his former teammate and close friend, by then chancellor for the Uni-