Wednesday we held our annual President's Luncheon which helps us meet our UNCF annual fundraising goal. This year was a strong year, with over $70,000 raised for the college. We had strong attendance from the corporate community. Our honorary chair was Rush Harding of Crews and Associates, a great friend of the college.

Here are some scenes from the luncheon.

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Brittany and Alex

Gerald, Kamara, Sharon, and Marcel

Representatives from the United Methodist Church

Greater Little Rock Alumni

Lt. Governor Bill Halter

The crowd

The Collegiate Choir

Luncheon Chair Rush Harding

Monday night we kicked off season 5 of Bless the Mic with RNC chair Michael Steele. When I booked him back in February or March, I had no idea that we would be in the midst of these heated and often incivil debates. So there was lots of interest in his speech.

I was excited too, but for the first time, I missed a lecture. My father-in-law passed last Wednesday, and his funeral was Monday. I came back after the funeral, but with the weather in Atlanta causing major problems, my original flight was cancelled, so I just saw the last 5 minutes of the Q&A.

But the plan has been to have students run the lectures, so this was a true trial by fire! I have 3 juniors and 3 sophomores who serve as the team directors, and then 27 freshmen team members. So I was confident in them. I think the problem they had was too many people trying to fill in for me to give them instructions. I have to tell folks they they've got this.

So I didn't get to do introduction, so my stand in was our team director, Felicia White. I watched her speech and she did well.

I haven't watched Steele yet but most were impressed. We will have to revamp our Q&A as a young man was escorted out after trying to do a follow up. If I had been there I would have allowed him to do so, because Steele shot down his original argument, so I would have been curious to see if he could recover. But we'll keep improving.

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We had a great event Saturday night. Here are some scenes.

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On Thursday we held chapel. The first Thursday of the month it is held at Wesley Chapel UMC on campus, but since I spoke during the first week so we held it this week.

We were having our board meeting, and so our board attended the chapel. This has been a new tradition that the board enjoys.

Our speaker was Rev. Emmanuel Cleaver III, pastor of the 2,500 member St. James UMC in Kansas City. He's a 1993 graduate of PSC.

His topic was "Keeping Up With the Joneses." The point is that leaders need quit being led by culture, and start being led by Jesus. It was a great message for our student leaders (all of us really).

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Over the past week, we have had several programs for our Black Male Initiative. The first was an opportunity for the men to interact with officers from the Little Rock Police Department. Historically, there has been friction between Black men and the police, even when the police are Black men too.

But a chance to sit down and have lunch with some officers is a good first step. It was a non-threatening way for some to ask the officers important questions regarding their rights and just sort of how to handle certain situation.

Yesterday, there was a two-part session. The first was on etiquette, and focused on proper dining, from use of silverware, to how to place your silverware when you're finished eating (10:20 position).

This was a session that everyone could use because I think as a society we're not following some of those practices as we should. A facilitator was Trudy Redus from Pine Bluff.

Next they learned how to tie ties. Over 100 ties were donated. Virgil Miller, a vice president with Metropolitan National Bank and sharp dresser, led the exercise. The guys are always excited to get free ties.

 

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We opened an honors hall on Friday for 19 students. This renovated building really adds a great deal to campus, especially considering our 13% enrollment increase this fall. We got great news coverage as well.

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Yesterday was my turn to share a message with the campus community, after our convocation last Thursday. I really spend time thinking how I am going to address the campus in a special way.

So we had our program as usual, with responsive readings, scripture, prayer and song.

After I was introduced, Public Enemy's classic "Fight the Power" blasted on the system. My title was, "To Do The Right Thing, You Must Fight The Power." This is the 20th anniversary of the Spike Lee classic, "Do The Right Thing," and coincidentally the 20th anniversary of my college graduation. So I used the movie as the structure for my talk.

My three points were that there are 3 powers the students need to fight, and our village elders (faculty and staff) have to be there to help them through the process. The powers are purposelessness, promiscuity, and pain (inflicted on themselves and each other).

It was real talk for a real talk generation.

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We kicked off year three of the Black Male Initiative with Dr. Rani Whitfield of Baton Rouge, LA, also known as Tha Hip Hop Doc. http://www.h2doc.com/landing/

He began the day talking with the women who are participating in Platinum By Design. Then, he got to the brothers. Dr. Whitfield talked with us about our health, including eating, exercise, and sexual health. He has developed a unique approach to reaching young people through music, working with some local artists and well as national artists to get his health message out.

Very active in his community, he also works at the prisons, and has provided physicals for high school athletes. He was very well received, and the guys hung around to get more information.

I highly recommend him to come to your school, church, or civic group. He's excellent!

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