Alumni And Students Organize Town Hall Meetings And A Protest Rally To Pressure Mississippi Lawmakers Into Nixing College-Merger Proposal

Percy Norwood drove 100 miles from Carrollton, Miss., to participate in a protest and rally at the Mississippi Capitol on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

Holiday

The retired Coast Guard officer strode alongside several hundred other alumni, students, faculty and staff demanding "no merger, no closure and more funding" for the state's historically Black colleges and universities

A 1968 graduate of Alcorn State University, Norwood is fervent in his support for his alma mater and for the other two statefunded HBCUs: Jackson State and Mississippi Valley State universities. All three schools are faced with a proposed merger that has sent shockwaves through the state and put HBCUs in other states on the alert that they might be next

"Were it not for Alcorn, I would not have my degree in chemistry, and I would not have become a commanding officer in the United States Coast Guard," Norwood said. "Alcorn took me out of the cotton field - took most kids out of the cotton fields - when nobody else would." Norwood earned a master's degree in analytical chemistry at historically Black Tuskegee University in Alabama

"We have a responsibility to protect not only our heritage, but our legacy," he added, echoing the sentiments of other protestors who said they owed their careers to the state's HBCUs

The demonstration was part of an aggressive campaign to kill Gov. Haley Barbour's proposal to restructure some Mississippi universities in an effort to save the state an estimated $35 million in the 2011 budget

One of the changes would combine Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State universities with Jackson State University

Barbour's staff has said the savings would mainly be in administration but his office has not provided details

The reaction was swift and strong, particularly from alumni associations representing all three schools. Students and faculty also weighed in with campus forums and rallies. A task force began holding town hall meetings to mobilize the opponents