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since 12/15/98 |
| Columns::September 2, 2003 Open wide: Food science building renovation, addition dedication scheduled UGA scientists lead international study of hot springs in Russia $1 million NSF grant will support biosensor research Magazine ranks UGA as top 20 public university for fourth consecutive year Carmical gift will be used to increase number of honors journalism courses Professor named pharmacy college’s teacher of the year Meeting and greeting Weight watcher: UGA researcher finds that nearly half of state’s children are overweight Campus Closeup Retirees Newsmakers Guiding Lights Campus News Learning experience In the summer of 1963, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes—the first African-American students to enroll at UGA—had
Columns: When Gov. Wallace was making his “stand in the schoolhouse door,” you had just graduated from high school. Dunning: I was in the Air Force in Taiwan. I saw photos in Time magazine of U.S. marshals escorting Vivian Malone across campus. Columns: Why had you decided to go into the Air Force? Dunning: I grew up in a family with a very deep sense of place about land and family. They also had high expectations about
Columns: Why did you decide to attend the University of Alabama? Dunning: When I was out of the country, I had a chance to think deeply about the United States and the South. I saw my home in a different light and I felt passionate about being included in every aspect of life along with other citizens. I thought I should have the right to attend the University of Alabama. Columns: What was your parents’ reaction to that decision? Dunning: Deep concern for my safety. I think they understood that I was very well-grounded and had a deep sense of self, but they worried about physical safety—because this was in the mid-sixties and, just a few years before, young girls were killed in Birmingham and there were beatings in Selma. Columns: You arrived at Alabama just after Vivian Malone graduated. How many African-American students were on campus? Dunning: Eight or nine. It was three or four weeks before I saw another black student. So it was an odd experience. Columns: In newspaper retrospectives prompted by the 40th anniversary, the dean of men and others were portrayed as having worked hard in 1963 to keep a lid on things—out of concern about not further damaging the university’s reputation. Does that gibe with your experience? Dunning: It was my sense that thoughtful people understood that change would occur and that it was important that we not have loss of life. I think the university did a good job, given the times, to prepare the campus for that transition. In hindsight it’s clear that a system that excludes citizens from higher education is not something that can be sustained forever. Columns: Did you face hostility? Dunning: Absolutely. On occasion someone felt compelled to get off the sidewalk when you walked by or—when you sat down in class or in the dining hall—to get up and move as far away from you as possible. Or you’d hear a racial slur yelled out a window or find something written on a residence hall door. But it wasn’t confrontational, it was more covert. Since I had lived outside the country and was a little older than some of the other undergraduates, I had a pretty keen sense that this was a major transformation for everybody and some would handle it well and some would not. Columns: Were you able to participate in activities on campus? Dunning: I was not. At the time, the handful of us on campus would spend our weekends at Stillman, a small historically black liberal arts college across town, because there were no options on campus. We decided we needed to do something to create an opportunity for students coming after us to feel engaged with the university. So we had a number of meetings with members of the administration to address these concerns. Columns: I heard rumors about you going out for football at Alabama. Dunning: In the spring of ’67, there was a lot of pressure to integrate the football team. One of the coaches had said they weren’t able to find any students who were interested. Five of us heard that and decided to go out for spring practice. It was on national television, and we were all interviewed. We laugh when we talk about it now, because of the five of us who did that, only two should have been out there. After a few days, the other three of us said, “Look, there are other ways we can contribute to this transition.” Columns: Looking back, would you have done anything differently? Dunning: I would have worked harder to lower the volume of conversation. The issue of race can be so polarizing, but we’re in this together. If you want a state to flourish, you need to educate more people. That’s hard to debate if you’re honest and fair. |
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