40th Anniversary celebrated with empty seats

Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2007, marked the 40th commemoration of the first black undergraduate students to matriculate into and graduate from Rice University. I attended every single minute of the program, from 11:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.

There were introductions, panelists, question-and-answer sessions and keynote speakers. It was an event-filled day with activities to attend and speakers to hear that covered the past, present and future of black students at Rice.

As a significant event that is of consequence to the Rice community, I was disappointed not only in the low attendance as a whole, but the lack of attendance by current students in particular. The event was not prominently posted in the Thresher nor publicized around campus.

There was an opportunity to celebrate a pivotal point in Rice’s history, and we barely filled the not-so-grand auditorium where it was held. To the left and right of me were empty chairs. Behind me there were empty rows. And in front of me was a full panel bursting with information to share with, well, empty seats.

Alumni outnumbered undergrads by far, because the event was specifically catered towards them. However, the information transmitted during this day is most pertinent to us now. Current and future students are the only ones who can create the vision that was discussed at the panels, but we were barely present to actually get the information to do so.

I appreciate the committee and the parties responsible for the event. The panelists and historians offered helpful suggestions on how Rice can move forward from its past, improving the present and looking forward to a better future. I learned how much the current system must improve and how stagnant we are as a student body eliminating the natural segregation that we reinforce daily.

I also learned some of what I already knew: We still only matriculate about 40 black students every year — a number that is declining. Furthermore, minorities are not being enriched by Orientation Week and do not feel included in the college system.

What the Rice community, in its entirety, needs to do is apply the suggestions and create the dialogue recommended by Larry Payne, former Houston mayor Lee P. Brown’s consultant on diversity, education and community initiatives.

It is also necessary to create a support system for future black students via backing from faculty, staff and current students, as Lovett College senior Kenitra Brown suggested.

And we need to recreate the black sentiment of advancement and fervor that History Professor Alex Byrd (Sid Richardson ‘90) recalled from his time here when “it was a good time to be black at Rice.” Blacks at this time were gaining momentum in maintaining a significant voice in the status of the university. This diversification of ideas, had the dialogue continued, would have brought about a university better able to accommodate the needs of more students and create a multi-dimensional institution at which all students can feel at home.

I fear that this event will be forgotten as if it were simply another day gone by rather than a new beginning. I fear that the few who heard and experienced what was said will keep their experience locked in their long-term memory — never spoken about nor applied. I fear that the dialogue will not occur, and tomorrow will look a lot like today. Such an amazing event has too much potential to bring about awareness and effect change to let it be forgotten among lunch table recollection and late night conversations.

As a student body newly empowered with information, we have to turn rhetoric into action through active discourse between students and administration and actual accountability.

Jessica Fowler is a Hanszen College sophomore.

Back to top