Teaching our youth to fish - Dr. Marvalene Hughes, President, California State University-Stanislaus - Transcript

Black Issues in Higher Education, Nov 14, 1996

It was Benjamin Mays who best described

what Tuskegee meant to me when he said, "A

college must be judged not only be excellent

teachers, but by the spirit and philosophy

which permeate it from top to bottom."

"The Best College" report on the Internet

said that current students at Tuskegee believe

that the college is "totally lacking in

distractions for students." Translation:

"There is nothing to do on weekends."

Let me set the record straight. I can say

to these students that they are missing the fun

which we knew. Those were the days it did

not take glitter and night lights to give us

pleasure. We pooled our pennies and nickels

-- few students had dimes, quarters and

dollars -- and called downtown to order half a

barbecued chicken to be delivered to our door

for 50 cents. We registered for eighteen to

twenty-two units each quarter. We had jobs

for four-to-five hours a day on campus. We

studied during the required study hours -- which

began at dark because we were not

permitted outside during week nights. We

enjoyed the privilege of being on campus, and

we thought it was irresponsible and

dishonorable not to graduate in four years or

less.

On weekends, we rewarded ourselves.

Friday evenings, we dated a little. Women

played bid whist in their residence halls. We

were treated to cultural activities on Saturday

evening, usually followed by dancing in the

basement of the dining hall. Surreptitiously, we

competed to see who was most original in

performing the

"hully gully," similar to this generation's

"electric slide."

We had nothing, but we had everything.

I have boasted that Tuskegee Institute,

now Tuskegee University, is the place where

I received my real education, despite the fact

that I received full scholarships and studied at

Columbia University in New York, was the

first Black Ph.D. at Florida State University

on a teaching scholarship, and received

scholarships to

three postdoctoral summer sessions at

Harvard. I hope I have upheld the standards

instilled by some of my great mentors, who

cared so much about my progress and whose

faces and personalities shall forever remain

deeply imprinted in my memory.

Why? Because they challenged and

confronted us; allowed us to rub shoulders

with accomplished people who

looked like us; never accepted mediocrity from

us; but most of all, taught us [as if they were]

eagles teaching their young to fly for the first

time. They lovingly pushed us out of the nest to

determine if we could, fly -- and if we faltered

they swooped down to lift us up. History can

never erase the profound legacy that a caring role model

hands to a mentee.

When Booker T. Washington opened these

doors on July 4, 1881, he had thirty Black men

and women who gathered to become teachers. It

is serendipitous that the campus doors opened

on Independence Day.

Maybe it was also fortuitous, for indeed,

Tuskegee has delivered personal independence

to many Black Americans, as well as

non-Blacks, Booker T. knew that he had a job

much bigger than he was recruited to perform,

and he wasted no time enacting his vision. A

year later, in 1882, he purchased a 100-acre

abandoned plantation to form the nucleus of

this university. His vision was to build a

facility to provide quality education for Black

people and to teach them to become

independent. He had sparse resources, but he

obviously had vision, courage and will -- and

did it all "on a shoestring."

What evolved was more than just a place to

train teachers. One hundred fifteen years later,

forty-five bachelor's degrees and twenty-one

master's degrees are offered in arts and sciences,

agriculture and home economics, business,

education, engineering and architecture, nursing

and allied health. The distinguished doctorate of

veterinary medicine competes with the best in

the nation, attracting

people of all races and nationalities.

Tuskegee was, and still is, a home away

from home -- where students compete in

class, develop ethnic pride and a sense of

belonging, and develop an appreciation for

cultural arts. Education at Tuskegee laid the

foundation for us to graduate and set sails to

span the widest ocean, to climb the highest

mountain' to walk side-by-side with

professional cohorts worldwide and conquer

space, medicine, time, and technology. In

addition to a foundation, this great university

gave us strength, courage, hope and eagerness

to stand tall and walk shoulder-to-shoulder

with the mightiest kings and queens. At

Tuskegee there was a thread of continuity

--connecting home, the Black community,

church and the university. It was a chain, not

to be broken.

While at school here, I was required to

take "Negro History." Thank God for that

requirement. I remember distinctly standing

up in class to challenge my professor on the

relevance of that course. In retrospect, I am

grateful that I had the privilege of learning my

unfiltered history. Among other things I

learned that America has a duty and a destiny

to fulfill the needs of its people -- including

its Black people, who, for so many

generations were treated like mindless slaves.

I am not supposed to be a university