Mississippi College Prepares for Clinton Visit (To Deliver Commencement Address May 18)

Tuscaloosa News ^ | May 13, 2003 | Barbara Powell, AP

[mountaineer]

Tucked behind a Target store on 500 acres of shaded grounds, little Tougaloo College has survived for 134 years in a relatively obscure corner of academia.

While beloved by its 800-member student body and a hardcore group of dedicated alumni, Tougaloo has struggled with declining enrollment and a chronic funding shortage.

But Tougaloo President Beverly Hogan and other backers of the school are hoping a commencement address from former President Bill Clinton on Sunday and a Democratic presidential debate sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus will bring the troubled campus some positive attention.

Clinton, one of the world's most sought-after speakers and arguably the highest paid, isn't charging Tougaloo a fee. While Hogan is grateful and honored by the gesture, she said she wants more.

"I'm hoping that Tougaloo College becomes part of the things he thinks about," said Hogan, who met Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas and she directed Mississippi's Office of Federal State Programs. "I won't let him forget Tougaloo."

Though it produces doctors, lawyers and teachers, Tougaloo never attracted the enrollment, money or prestige afforded such other black institutions as Howard University - which has an endowment of more than $300 million and more than 10,000 students.

But Hogan, herself a Tougaloo alumna, and the chairman of Tougaloo's board of trustees, Leroy Walker Jr., believe a visit from a former president confers a seal of approval and a status from which Tougaloo can benefit.

"For a small black college, this will do volumes from the standpoint of public relations," said Walker, who owns 21 franchised McDonald's restaurants. "We are proud that President Clinton hasn't forgotten that these are the kinds of institutions that make a difference to regular people."

C.J. Lawrence, a graduating senior and student government association president who expects to meet the former president on Sunday, said Tougaloo students can relate to Clinton because he was in office in the 1990s.

"I was one election away from being able to vote for him," the 22-year-old said. "He's a president of our lifetime. We got to see him grow just as we grew."

Tougaloo is no stranger to high-profile visitors. Last year's commencement speaker was former Clinton adviser Vernon Jordan, a powerful Washington lawyer who drew a record crowd of 5,000. This year, Tougaloo sent out more than 10,000 graduation invitations.

The school will set out 7,000 chairs on the campus green. But since the ceremony is open to the public as well as alumni, school officials are bracing for thousands more to attend.

Workers have planted shrubs along the route Clinton may take when he arrives Sunday, and they plan to put up large banners welcoming him. Even Hogan's on-campus house has received a landscaping makeover.

"You see how it is right now - it's calm and quiet," Tougaloo spokesman Chip Washington said as he walked across the campus last week. "But picture how it's going to be on May 18. Mass hysteria."

U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, a Tougaloo alumnus who helped bring the Aug. 13 Democratic debate to the campus, said all the attention also could help turn the struggling college around.

"This is Tougaloo's time to shine, no doubt about it," he said.

[octobersky]

LOL!

[dixiechick2000]

Yikes! I saw "Mississippi College" in the title and just about choked!

Mississippi College, as opposed to Tougaloo, is a Baptist school.

I'd be extremely surprised if the Dean and faculty of Mississippi College let the rapist within 100 miles of it.

[DeFault User]

I read the headline and almost croaked. Mississippi College is a Baptist college in Clinton, Miss. If they were inviting Clinton to speak, I figured we were now in an alternate universe and ready for Doomsday.

The headline meant Mississsippi college in a generic sense. Sad enough, but not yet Doomsday.

[DeFault User]

You and I came up with the same "choke". Heh, heh.

[bourbon]

Yikes! I saw "Mississippi College" in the title and just about choked!

ME TOO!!! Talk about shoddy headline-writing!

[dixiechick2000]

Can you imagine a bunch of Southern Baptists having the Perverted One speak to their children?

I, actually, had to laugh at that thought.

[DeFault User]

Can you imagine a bunch of Southern Baptists having the Perverted One speak to their children?

That would make a good Onion article!

[dixiechick2000]

LOL! Excellent!

[bourbon]

Y'know, if I had waited just one semester longer to graduate from grad. school, I would have had the "honor" of receiving my diploma from the then-President of the USA Bill "The Bent One" Clinton.

I'm so glad I graduated when I did. However, the picture of me shaking his hand would have been a nice conversation piece/object of ridicule. :-)

[bourbon]

Last year's commencement speaker was former Clinton adviser Vernon Jordan

Maybe Bill Clinton and Vernon Jordan could do a tag-team commencement address in the future? At least, we'll know what the subject of that speech will be.

Remember what Jordan claimed he and Clinton talked about on the golf course? (Big Hint: It's a term for female genitalia, and it starts with a "P"!)

[dixiechick2000]

"...the picture of me shaking his hand would have been a nice conversation piece/object of ridicule. :-)"

LOL! I suspect it would have been a bit of both.

I'm glad you don't have to find out which would have been the dominate sentiment, though. ;o)

[dixiechick2000]

My cousin's daughter works in Vernon Jordan's law firm in D.C.

She's the family liberal. Lovely girl, but we laugh at her behind her back.;o)

[bourbon]

I'd be interested to know how much time Vernon Jordan actually spends working, as opposed to how much time he spends goofing around with his political buddies. My guess is he spends most of his time doing the latter. Any insights?

[mountaineer]

Yes, I can see how the headline ("Mississippi College") may have thrown anyone for a loop, but I wanted to use the original, no matter how confusing.

[dixiechick2000]

Since she understands how the family feels about her employer, she won't dish no dirt!

We are all hoping that she will mature soon, and see how wrongheaded she's been...maybe then she will enlighten us on these past few years in Vernon's den.

[dixiechick2000]

No worries...not your fault. You should always use the original headline.

I suspect some headline writer needs to go back to headline writing school, though.

[mountaineer]

they plan to put up large banners welcoming him

Will these do?

[wardaddy]

me three!!

[Marysecretary]

He was at Syracuse University for their graduation last weekend. And the beast was in Morrisville and Cortland for theirs. I wouldn't go near them and I wouldn't want any child or grandchild of mine within hearing distance of these two cretens. Ugghhhh.

[bourbon]

BWHAAHAHAHAHAA!!

good one! I can almost see Slick stepping out of that limo.