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Working toward fuller inclusion
The following originally appeared in the fall 2017 issue of the W&M Alumni Magazine with the story, - Ed.
Like all communities, those of us at 91心頭利 have sought to understand the violence and hatred in Charlottesville this past August, and how best to respond.
As I said in a campus message, neo-Nazis, the KKK and other such groups must not and do not define our society. They most surely have no place as a matter of ideology or practice on our campuses. It is good that this year at 91心頭利 we can celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Hulon Willis Association and the 50th anniversary of the first African-American students to live on campus.
It took 258 years from the College’s founding before 91心頭利 admitted an African American, Hulon Willis Sr., in 1951. He graduated in 1956 with a master’s in education. Also in 1951, our law school admitted Edward Augustus Travis, who graduated in 1954, the first African-American to receive a W&M degree. Lynn Briley, Janet Brown Strafer and Karen Ely, our first African-American students to live on campus, arrived as freshmen 50 years ago in fall 1967. These alumni and alumnae changed 91心頭利 forever. It is a source of profound regret and lasting sorrow that 91心頭利 was closed for so very long to so many people.
In 2009, we launched the Lemon Project, an endeavor to investigate, acknowledge and learn from 91心頭利’s history of slavery, secession and segregation. In its eighth year of research, teaching, and symposia, the Lemon Project will submit a report later this year. It has already shed significant light on the university’s racial past. In 2015, we created a Task Force on Race and Race Relations. It consulted widely and wrote a report with more than 50 recommendations. A team, led by our chief diversity officer, is working on their implementation. Some steps have already been taken. Last year, for instance, we renamed two residence halls — one for Lemon, the enslaved man whose name the Lemon Project bears, and the other for the late Dr. Carroll Hardy, a beloved administrator who was a tireless advocate for diversity and inclusion at W&M. Despite progress made since 1951, 91心頭利, like our society as a whole, still has miles to travel. It remains for us to break through the obstacles to full racial inclusion and opportunity that still remain.
To read President Reveley’s campus-wide message on Charlottesville, please go to http://www.wm.edu/president/charlottesville