Here are some of the sights from Friday night's baccalaureate.

Class of 2009

Toni Witherspoon- 4th generation Philanderian

Dr. Frank James, Rev. Larry Ross, Rev. Dwight Townsend, and me

Psalter led by Dinah Mande of the Democratic Repulblic of the Congo, who graduated in 3 1/2 years

Rev. Townsend: "Start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can."

Ministers offer blessings to members of the class

Collegiate Choir and Chosen Generation in song.

Last year, I gave gifts to all students initiated into a fraternity or sorority who were number 2 on the line, like me. This practice has been in the past has been called making someone your "special" or "spesh." The sweaters were a hit, so I said why not keep it going. We had 2 people initiated this fall, and then I went back to get the #2s who were initiated before last year.

Fred

Gabby

 

So I am caught up now.

But of course, those not privileged enough to wear the number 2 are really jealous! So I decided I would do a "Spesh Me!" contest for all the returning undergraduate Greeks where I will randomly select one of them to get a sweater in the fall, along with the true #2 initiated this spring. Stay tuned...

The Prez

Last night, the Black Male Initiative hosted a pizza study break for about 40 guys. It went so well that when I got there at about 10, the food and the guys were just about gone!

The Prez

Congratulations to Francennett Herrera, who was voted as Miss PSC for the next academic year. On Saturday night, we held the pageant to determine the top 3 candidates. This week, the students voted to determine who the next Miss PSC would be. They couldn't go wrong as we had great candidates who competed in an excellent pageant (the oratorical contest was superb!)

But after the votes were counted, Francennett was declared the winner. She's a sophomore from Chicago.

Last year, she was very involved with Bless the Mic, having a chance to speak on program with Marie "Free" Wright, and was always around to assist. I selected her as Street Team Member of the Year for her hard work and dedication to the program. She has looked for ways to be involved this year as well.

So we are excited about our new queen and the manner in which she will represent us next year.

The Prez

I am very appreciative for all my students, the faculty and staff who sent birthday wishes. I had numerous visits to the office, cards, and even a song! Below are some of the pictures from today. The Bless the Mic Street Team came and brought me a gift at lunch time, and the Black Male Initiative surprised me this afternoon.

Thanks to you all!

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Street Team

 

Black Male Initiative

We had open house on Saturday. Over 400 prospective students braved the threat of rain (and some a 4 hour ordeal on I-40) to attend open house. They came from across the state, plus Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, and even Oakland, California. Our open house has really grown over the past few years, so we're excited about our future. Here are a few pics.

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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...

The Prez