Dr. Don Cole, Assistant Provost at Ole Miss, smiles for a quick photo during his slower part of the workday.
Assistant Provost Dr. Don Cole doesn’t just remember the
prejudice at Ole Miss in 1970; he experienced it first hand.
“That was the first time in my life, and I pray the only
time, that I had ever had a weapon pointed at me,” Dr. Cole said. “I remember
it being a rifle, and I remember looking at the guy as he was following me
along.”
In 1970, Dr. Cole and seven other students were expelled
from Ole Miss for protesting in an attempt to have the university hire more
African-American professors.
“As we got here, we found it very uncomfortable,” he said. “Back
in the sixties, the school had not been, what I call, thoroughly integrated.”
When Dr. Cole arrived at Ole Miss, he was one of roughly 100
African-American students enrolled at the time. Although the school had been
integrated years earlier with the enrollment of James Meredith, many of the
long-lived prejudices lingered on.
The irony lies in the fact that Dr. Cole is currently the
only African-American in the upper echelons of the Ole Miss
administration. It should be kept in
mind that last year was the 50th anniversary of the university’s
integration.
Will Norton, the Dean of the Meek School of Journalism and
New Media at Ole Miss, believes that the university has a history of taking its
time with progress.
“This is a university that moves very slow,” said Norton.
“When it does move, the people who don’t like that it has moved protest, and so
they have to hold back.”
“The real issue is how much Ole Miss has changed,” he added.
“Dr. Cole saw that change, can you imagine what that environment was like for
him?”
While many find it ironic that Dr. Cole is now in charge of
policy at Ole Miss, it doesn’t mean he didn’t earn his position. Lily Van, a
member of the Vietnamese Student’s Association at Ole Miss, works closely with
Dr. Cole and believes his care and dedication to the students is what people
should focus on.
“Dr. Cole received his doctorates degree here at Ole Miss,”
Van said. “He still cared for the school and enjoys working with students to
ensure their success, which is what his position is all about.”
Van went on to add that, while Dr. Cole is the only
African-American in high-ranking administration, there are still many African-americans
employed as department chairs and faculty at Ole Miss.
“Dr. Cole pointed out to me that our former Vice Chancellor
was an African-American,” she said. “There are many department heads, chairs,
etc. employed here that are African-American.
While it’s true that there are many minorities employed at
the university, the question of whether or not minorities are being equally represented
in the administration is one to which there is currently, no solid answer.
Sources: Dr. Don Cole - 662-915-1712 dcole@olemiss.edu
Dean Will Norton, hw.norton@gmail.com 662-915-7146
Lily Van- lilyhvan@go.olemiss.edu
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