Jackson Free Press

President Barack Obama announced Friday that he wants Jackson State University President Ronald Mason Jr. on the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The board exists to strengthen the nation's list of HBCUs, many of which suffered financial cutbacks as the economy tanked and attendance declined. Even prestigious Spelman College in Atlanta cut more than 30 staff members and announced plans to restructure its Education Department last year.

Mason said last spring that he is looking to "streamline" JSU's own curriculum in an effort to jettison many underutilized programs and cut university costs.

He joins a second state college leader, Tougaloo College President Beverly Wade Hogan, on the committee, which will act as a go-between for HBCUs and the White House to help "develop strategies for (HBCUs') growth and success."
Mason has been working to save Mississippi's own HBCUs, but one of his theories upset many black legislators and HBCU graduates last month when he approached legislators with a proposal to merge Alcorn University and Mississippi Valley State University with Jackson State University and call the new institution Jacobs State University.

"Mason doesn't understand what he's trying to do," said David Jordan, D-Greenwood, last month. "In making his proposition, he doesn't understand the history he's threatening to destroy at Alcorn and some of these other universities. There are many generations of people who graduated from these places. Many legislators I know went to these schools, which would only be a branch of JSU under Mason's plan."

Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, became one of Mason's more vocal opponents of the plan to merge the universities after first rejecting a similar merger proposal by Gov. Haley Barbour this year.
Flaggs said Mason's intelligence and experience would make him an asset on the president's board, despite a few misfires Mason may have indulged on the state level.

"Mason has a lot of knowledge of historically black schools. I can support his promotion while disagreeing with him on the merger," Flaggs said.

Flaggs' confidence may arise from President Obama's own signed renewal of an executive order pledging efforts to assist historically black colleges last week.

Previous Comments

ID

156425

Comment

This is like appointing Edgar Killens to the NAACP board or Colonel Sanders to provide security for the chickens. Mason's past actions prove he does not give a damm about saving HBCUs. It looks like it is time to call people together again to protest this egregious appointment. This is an insult to all black citizens in Mississippi. You might as well have appointed Haley Barbour to the committee. Barbour and Mason are both intent on destroying HBCUs in Mississippi.

Author

wellington

Date

2010-03-02T00:24:30-06:00

ID

156430

Comment

Baquan, I was not comparing Mason to Killen. My point was and is Mason has as much interest in supporting HBCUs as Killen does in supporting the NAACP. Why put some one on a board of an organization or entity that the person has shown he wants to destroy. When it comes to bricks and motar Mason has done a good job at JSU. But what has he done for academics there? Like many in the black community I truly believe Mason's job is to build up JSU's physical plant to connect with downtown Jackson and turn the univerity over to white control.

Author

wellington

Date

2010-03-02T10:52:35-06:00

ID

156438

Comment

My point was and is Mason has as much interest in supporting HBCUs as Killen does in supporting the NAACP. Obviously, this is not a logical comparison. I don't agree with what Mason has done of late, and I can still know that comparing his interest in HBCUs to Killen's in the NAACP is about as big a fallacy as you could come up with.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2010-03-02T12:46:48-06:00

ID

156448

Comment

Wellington..no...just no. I too am a graduate of JSU. I love and respect JSU, Alcorn and MVSU. That said, I know that the realities of the 21st Century will mandate something along the lines of Mason's idea. It will soon become an issue of uniting in some fashion or not surviving at all. There is a reason the SWAC ain't what the SWAC used to be. Same problem with non-sports stuff.

Author

blkjazz

Date

2010-03-02T14:43:34-06:00