Facing a past of racial trouble
West Chester U.'s president acknowledged mistakes, and alumni were happy with her talk.
Title
Facing a past of racial trouble
West Chester U.'s president acknowledged mistakes, and alumni were happy with her talk.
West Chester U.'s president acknowledged mistakes, and alumni were happy with her talk.
Subject
Adler, Speech, Racism
Description
This article from the Philadelphia Inquirer relates Madeline Adler's speech of 2/20/2008 that acknowledged WCU's history of discrimination and racism against its Black students. The article interviews two alumni, Carson Carr (1958) and Littleton Mitchell (1948). Carr lived on campus but Mitchell was forced to find housing off campus.
Creator
Will Hobson
Source
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Publisher
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Date
2/28/2008
Contributor
Randall Cream
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Identifier
https://www.inquirer.com/philly/local/pa/chester/nabes/20080228_Facing_a_past_of_racial_trouble.html
Text
Facing a past of racial trouble
West Chester U.'s president acknowledged mistakes, and alumni were happy with her talk.
by Will Hobson, For The Inquirer, Posted: February 28, 2008
After nearly two hours of open discussion last Wednesday afternoon about racial discrimination in the school's past, Madeleine Wing Adler, president of West Chester University, took the microphone in ballroom C of Sykes Student Union.
The crowd of about 250 was dotted with about 18 black alumni from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s; some had spoken to the crowd earlier of the challenges they faced at West Chester, including being barred from living on campus.
Adler read a brief statement that, more than 60 years after the school finally allowed blacks to live on campus, served as West Chester University's first official acknowledgment of its mistakes during that era, when the school was called West Chester State Teachers College.
"We must study the past, its reasons for shame as well as for praise. Where there was error, by acknowledging it we help to ensure it will not be repeated," said Adler, who will retire in June after 16 years as president.
Adler's remarks and the discussion that preceded them were part of the university's 11th annual Civility Day, a yearly event where WCU students and faculty participate in discussions and activities centered on a topic - this year's was "Go Green: Strategies for Global Civility."
Though racism didn't connect directly with the day's "Go Green" theme, the words of black alumni who faced racism at West Chester, and Adler's remarks were undoubtedly some of the most important uttered all day on campus.
"I think it was a great time for healing, because this is a wound that has been open for a long time," said Carson Carr, class of 1958. When Carr came to West Chester in 1954 the segregationist housing policy had been lifted.
"We really stood on the shoulders of those victims . . . We appreciated the fact that they paved the way for us," said Carr, an administrator at State University of New York at Albany. Aware of the challenges his predecessors faced at West Chester, and the lack of an official university response, Carr wrote a letter to Adler last April, asking her to consider organizing an event to "close the chapter" of racism at West Chester, he said.
"It was very interesting," said Littleton Mitchell, class of 1948, of the event. "When I was asked by one her [Adler's] assistants what did I think about the apology, I said the apology to me is not the most important thing . . . The apology must be accompanied by action. And West Chester, in my mind, has exceeded what I could want for action," said Mitchell, who lives in Delaware City, Del.
Mitchell started at West Chester in 1939. During the war, he was one of the Tuskegee Airmen, America's first black military pilots.
After spending three years in the military, Mitchell returned to West Chester in 1946. The university allowed black women to live on campus in 1943, but black men still had to find housing elsewhere. Many rented rooms from black families in the area, while others simply commuted. The West Chester University that Mitchell sees today is vastly different than the one he attended.
"These youngsters do not know the privileges that West Chester has made available to them . . . It's [West Chester University] very sensitive to the needs of the people there," said Mitchell.
Mitchell said he did not have any contact with the school after he graduated until one of Adler's assistants visited his house out of the blue in 1994.
The visit was a part of Adler's efforts to engage West Chester's alums of all races on campus; now Mitchell is a frequent visitor to games and other events on campus.
A day after her speech, Adler was content with the results. "We are committed to equity, in all definitions of that word," Adler said."We're not always successful, but we're working at it."
Posted: February 28, 2008 - 3:01 AM
Will Hobson, For The Inquirer
West Chester U.'s president acknowledged mistakes, and alumni were happy with her talk.
by Will Hobson, For The Inquirer, Posted: February 28, 2008
After nearly two hours of open discussion last Wednesday afternoon about racial discrimination in the school's past, Madeleine Wing Adler, president of West Chester University, took the microphone in ballroom C of Sykes Student Union.
The crowd of about 250 was dotted with about 18 black alumni from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s; some had spoken to the crowd earlier of the challenges they faced at West Chester, including being barred from living on campus.
Adler read a brief statement that, more than 60 years after the school finally allowed blacks to live on campus, served as West Chester University's first official acknowledgment of its mistakes during that era, when the school was called West Chester State Teachers College.
"We must study the past, its reasons for shame as well as for praise. Where there was error, by acknowledging it we help to ensure it will not be repeated," said Adler, who will retire in June after 16 years as president.
Adler's remarks and the discussion that preceded them were part of the university's 11th annual Civility Day, a yearly event where WCU students and faculty participate in discussions and activities centered on a topic - this year's was "Go Green: Strategies for Global Civility."
Though racism didn't connect directly with the day's "Go Green" theme, the words of black alumni who faced racism at West Chester, and Adler's remarks were undoubtedly some of the most important uttered all day on campus.
"I think it was a great time for healing, because this is a wound that has been open for a long time," said Carson Carr, class of 1958. When Carr came to West Chester in 1954 the segregationist housing policy had been lifted.
"We really stood on the shoulders of those victims . . . We appreciated the fact that they paved the way for us," said Carr, an administrator at State University of New York at Albany. Aware of the challenges his predecessors faced at West Chester, and the lack of an official university response, Carr wrote a letter to Adler last April, asking her to consider organizing an event to "close the chapter" of racism at West Chester, he said.
"It was very interesting," said Littleton Mitchell, class of 1948, of the event. "When I was asked by one her [Adler's] assistants what did I think about the apology, I said the apology to me is not the most important thing . . . The apology must be accompanied by action. And West Chester, in my mind, has exceeded what I could want for action," said Mitchell, who lives in Delaware City, Del.
Mitchell started at West Chester in 1939. During the war, he was one of the Tuskegee Airmen, America's first black military pilots.
After spending three years in the military, Mitchell returned to West Chester in 1946. The university allowed black women to live on campus in 1943, but black men still had to find housing elsewhere. Many rented rooms from black families in the area, while others simply commuted. The West Chester University that Mitchell sees today is vastly different than the one he attended.
"These youngsters do not know the privileges that West Chester has made available to them . . . It's [West Chester University] very sensitive to the needs of the people there," said Mitchell.
Mitchell said he did not have any contact with the school after he graduated until one of Adler's assistants visited his house out of the blue in 1994.
The visit was a part of Adler's efforts to engage West Chester's alums of all races on campus; now Mitchell is a frequent visitor to games and other events on campus.
A day after her speech, Adler was content with the results. "We are committed to equity, in all definitions of that word," Adler said."We're not always successful, but we're working at it."
Posted: February 28, 2008 - 3:01 AM
Will Hobson, For The Inquirer
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Reference
Will Hobson 2008, Facing a past of racial trouble
West Chester U.'s president acknowledged mistakes, and alumni were happy with her talk., The Philadelphia Inquirer
West Chester U.'s president acknowledged mistakes, and alumni were happy with her talk., The Philadelphia Inquirer