On Friday night, we held our Renaissance Awards banquet. This was our third year of the event, which is hosted by the Division of Student Affairs. I like awards banquets, so this is a fun event for me.

SGA members

We have three big awards, and faculty, staff and student of the year. Each winner gets $1,000 along with their plaque. The winners were:

FACULTY: Dr. James Rush, philosophy and religion

STAFF: Rev. Ronnie Miller-Yow, chaplain

STUDENT: John Ndungu, sophomore

Rev. Yow with Malia Simon

I named our Bless the Mic street team member of the year, Gerald Thomas, and our diaper dandies, the freshmen who I think will make big noise here. They were Gerald Thomas and Marian McPherson.

Gerald Thomas (Our SOURCE Magazine intern)

 

Different departments gave awards, and I also did awards for a range of faculty and staff members as well. It was definitely a good time.

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This past Tuesday, we hosted our last Bless the Mic speaker for the year. Each year I try to bring in at least one conservative speaker. This still messes with folks, because they expect us only to host people we (as black folks) would agree with. Our speaker Tuesday was Charles Murray, who 15 years ago co-wrote one of the most controversial books of the past quarter century- The Bell Curve. A lot was written about how the book made reference to intelligence and race.

His newest book is called Real Education where he presents his 4 truths about education: 1. ability varies 2. half of all children are below average 3. too many people are going to college 4. our society depends upon how we educate the academically gifted.

To me, this wasn't a very controversial book because many of the points make sense. Many people worry about his college assertion, but he suggests in the book that a 4 year college doesn't make sense for someone who really has other skills that could be enhanced with a 2 year degree, certificate, or apprenticeship. President Obama's emphasis on green collar jobs speaks to jobs that do not require 4 year degrees but just additional training.

Anyway, after the lecture Murray told me I was brave to bring him. It was important for him to be here, especially since the following day he was doing a lunch presentation in town for a very influential organization. Our community needs to know what he says, even if we disagree, because there will be plenty in power who agree with him. But I told him his visit was easy- he's no where near the lightning rod that Ann Coulter was...

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Check out the new issue of THE SOURCE on stands April 14th. One of our freshmen, Gerald Thomas, is an intern for the magazine, and landed a spread in the magazine for PSC. In fact, we are just the second school in the nation to have such a spread (the other being Howard).

(Click the photo and you'll see this on The Source home page)

So it was great that the hip hop president is now in The Source. So look for us next week.

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On Friday, our SUMMIT leadership program held their retreat. Over 30 freshmen and sophomores spent a day looking at and experiencing leadership. One of the activities was led by sophomore Carmen Bradford, who this past summer attended a social justice institute in Arizona.

Her activity had the participants in several groups with the goal of building a new community. They had to seek permits, get supplies, and even ask the mayor for assistance. There were 2 police officers facilitating the transactions. The stated task was to build as fast as you can.

Along the way, the groups experienced different treatment. One group had a large space in which to work, and was offered any assistance they may have needed. One group was always handled by the officers only after the placed gloves on. Another group was treated as troublemakers, and often sent to jail.

After about 30 minutes, the game was stopped and signs were placed up on the wall: white, black, women, gay, Latino. Each group of students unknowingly were a member of one of these groups, and treated according to the stereotypes associated with the groups. The students were able to share their experiences as members of these groups, with the overall goal to help them understand prejudice in our society.

So, while frustrating for many of them, this was an interesting learning experience.

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Today, the Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission held a memorial on the steps of the State Capitol to commemorate the life of Dr. King. As you know, he was killed April 4, 1968. The program today was a wide-ranging event: bands, choirs, lawmakers, spoken word, speeches, etc. In fact, the program lasted 2 hours.

I went to support our Chosen Generation Choir, but ended up on the program to speak on behalf of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, of which Dr. King was a member. I guess you always have to be ready!

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This past Wednesday, Susan L. Taylor came to town to Bless the Mic. There was lots of excitement. The pre-lecture reception hosted students, faculty and staff, as well as some great women in the community. Members of The Links as well as Jack and Jill also attended the event. This group was hard to control! But we finally made it to the lecture.

Susan Taylor was on poin with so many issues. This was the first time I heard her do a keynote, but she was so deep. For the women's history month lecture, my wife introduces the speaker. She tore it up, quoting Talib Kweli's "Black Girl Pain."

That was an excellent segue into Taylor who talked a lot about pain, and the difference between it and suffering. She really shared the choices that we can make to improve our lives. I really wish every woman on my campus could have heard her because she was simply phenomenal.

Unfortunately, too many of us don't love ourselves and she really hit on that as well, about having your own stuff, about delaying gratification and making sacrifices.

If you ever have a chance to hear her speak, don't miss out.

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Last Thursday, we were the first campus in the country to host a budgetball tournament. Budgetball is a game designed to educate students about the national debt and to help them begin to think and act differently when it comes to this growing national problem. The game was developed by the National Academy of Public Administration in Washington DC.

When I was approached about the game, I said sure. It sounded like an interesting concept. But we really didn't know how it would work. As the game was designed, we began to finally see it work. In essence, the game is like a combination of football and ultimate frisbee. There are 3, eight minute periods where teams through the ball to someone in the end zone for points. In between periods there are strategy sessions where teams figure out how much debt or savings they want to do to get advantages. For example, you could "pay extra" to add players in order to get additional goals. But after that session and to make sure your budget is balanced, during the next session you might elect to have players wear oven mitts or to hop up and down while trying to pass.

The competition was fierce! The first place team was going to win a trip to DC to compete in a national game against the University of Miami. In the end, I think the students really enjoyed the event. I think someone suggested it as an intramural activity.

Maybe...

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Last night we hosted rap icon Sandy Denton, aka Pepa from Salt-N-Pepa. The group is the best selling female rap group of all time, and they were honored by VH1 a few years ago. They also had a new reality show recently.

This was Pep's FIRST speaking engagement. She joins the ranks of others who cut their speaking teeth at PSC (Karrine Steffans and Free). So we spent some time in my office just talking about the series and how much fun it is. The local newspaper sent a reporter to interview her, and we had a GREAT article in today's paper (Thanks Lamor!)

She mingled with the reception guests, and then did the program. She essentially talked about the struggles she chronicles in her book- the series of abuses she faced. She said she really didn't find her voice until she wrote the book.

"I stand before you a changed woman," she declared. She talked about how she rationalized reasons to stay in bad situations, and how many other women do the same. As she read a list of signs of abuse, the nervous laughter increased. I know we have students who are abused. I just hope she reached some of them so they can get some help.

Also- look for Pep's appearance to be seen in next month's The Source magazine. One of our students is an intern.

The Prez