In 1880, Henry Malachi Griffin became the first undergraduate

[D RAFT] University of Cincinnati African American Experience Timeline Submitted by Dr. P. Eric Abercrumbie Revised: November 30, 2006 and January 5, 2007 The African American Experience Timeline has been developed to provide an historical context for understanding how African American life at the University of Cincinnati has developed to this point in time. Our goal is to create a more complete narrative of each significant timeline entry below and publish a document celebrating these accomplishments. 1800s 1819 Founding date of Cincinnati College and the Medical College of Ohio. Both institutions later merge with the University of Cincinnati. 1858 Cincinnati businessman Charles McMicken dies, bequeathing $1 million to the City of Cincinnati to found a university. A complex man who divided his time between his interests in Cincinnati and in Louisiana, McMicken owned slaves, yet provided property and loans to free people of color. His lifestyle was simple and unpretentious, yet he commissioned the sculpting of two busts of himself and encouraged the arts. And though he had little formal schooling, he appreciated the merits of higher education. After the Civil War and several years of litigation, his bequest was combined with other funds to establish first the McMicken School of Design and then the University of Cincinnati. 1870 The City of Cincinnati officially creates the University of Cincinnati. 1874 William Parham graduates from the Cincinnati College Law School. Today he is recognized as the first African American graduate of the University of Cincinnati. 1880 Henry Malachi Griffin becomes the first undergraduate African American student and graduates in 1884. 1891 Charles Henry Turner earns a bachelor’s degree in Biology, and a master’s degree a year later while he works as a teaching assistant. He becomes a renowned zoologist and teacher, known for his research on the social organization of insect life. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ DRAFT 1 1900 – 1940s 1911 Ralph Belsinger becomes the first documented African American athlete at the University of Cincinnati. A member of the track team from 1911 to 1915, he earns the nickname “Eight Stride.” After graduating, he teaches in the Cincinnati Public School system for 39 years. 1919 Ida B. Rhodes graduates from the College of Education and begins a long career as a teacher in the Cincinnati Public Schools system. 1920 Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Chapter is established on October 20. 1920 Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Alpha Chapter is established on December 20. 1921 Alpha Kappa Alpha, Omicron Chapter is established on March 9. 1925 Georgia E. Beasley (who becomes a well-known Cincinnati Public School teacher) graduates from the College of Education and refuses to walk by herself in the graduation processional. She goes on to become a longtime teacher in the Cincinnati Public Schools. 1928 Jennie Davis Porter, principal of the Stowe School in Cincinnati, becomes the first African American woman to earn a doctorate at the University of Cincinnati, and at the time is one of only three African American women in the United States to hold a PhD. 1931 Theodore M. Berry graduates from the College of Arts & Sciences. After graduation from the College of Law, Berry goes on to become a nationally-prominent civil rights attorney, as well as Cincinnati’s first African American mayor. 1932 Chester Smith becomes the first African American athlete on both the University of Cincinnati football and basketball teams. A member of the track team as well, Smith participates in athletics until 1934. 1934 Quadres, an African American student organization, is formed by Donald Spencer; his sister, Valerie Spencer; William Lawless; Harold Rhodes; and Roberta Henderson. Their four stated goals – giving the group its name – are:  Promote high ideals and scholarship  Foster cultural enterprise  Establish contacts to social life  Encourage interracial harmony and participation on campus In the 1930s, although the University of Cincinnati never prohibited African Americans from enrolling, equality was entirely another matter. Like hundreds of colleges and universities across the United States, UC allowed institutional segregation in classrooms and in some colleges of the university. However, one newspaper reporter wrote of the DRAFT 2 Quadres organization that it had done more to promote the African American presence on campus in just a few short months than anything else in the past decade. 1935 Quadres produces a musical theater production titled, “Watcha Doin’ Now” to raise money for scholarships. 1936 London Gant becomes the second African American athlete on the football and basketball teams, and runs track as well. 1939 Kappa Alpha Psi, Beta Eta Chapter is established on May 20. 1942 Willard Stargel plays on the UC football team, but later leaves the university to enlist in the Army during World War II. He returns after the war to resume his academic and athletic career at the University of Cincinnati. One of Quadres’ most ambitious efforts at integration comes in 1942 when Stargel runs for student council. Although he is a popular student, he loses the election. Years later, Quadres member Marian Spencer stated that the fact that he ran for council showed that Quadres was making serious inroads against segregation in campus life. 1946 The UC athletic program sinks to one of its lowest points in the case of Stargel, a star athlete on the football team. The Bearcats have an excellent team, and finish the season with an 8-2 record, including an upset victory over Big 10 champion Indiana in the first game of the season. But Stargel has to sit out the next game because the University of Kentucky refuses to take the field if he plays. At the end of the season, UC receives a bid to play in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas on New Year’s Day. But there is a catch: the bid is contingent on UC leaving Stargel at home. Athletic Director Chic Mileham argues to accept the bid despite UC President Raymond Walters advising the university’s Board of Directors to turn it down for “ethical and patriotic reasons.” Numerous local citizen groups support Walters, but backed by the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and the Athletic Department, the board accepts the condition. The Bearcats win the game against Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 18-6, but lose a great deal of credibility in the eyes of the Cincinnati community. Stargel completes his studies and becomes one of the most respected teachers and coaches in Cincinnati Public School history. 1947 Darwin T. Turner receives his bachelor’s degree at the age of 16, thus becoming the youngest baccalaureate graduate in UC history. 1948 The final days of Quadres are uncertain as there is no longer any mention of the organization in campus publications such as The Cincinnatian and The News Record. It appears it dies quietly, due in part to other activities and concerns following the post-war enrollment boom, along with the growing popularity of African American fraternities and sororities. Over its 16-year existence, dozens of UC African American students belong to the organization. DRAFT 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1950s Due in part to the university’s athletic program, African American students begin living on campus. Henry Brown and Clark Beck received their PhDs in Engineering. 1950 Tom Overton joins the football team, and then becomes the fourth African American athlete on the basketball team. 1956 Oscar Robertson enrolls at the University of Cincinnati in the College of Business Administration. Though he is considered one of the best collegiate athletes of his time, he faces racial discrimination in Cincinnati and at collegiate basketball venues across America. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1960s Cincinnati residents consider the University of Cincinnati and its environs as a precinct of “Bohemian excess.” The Cincinnati Enquirer headlined one investigative series: “Calhoun Street- Hippie Haven: It’s the In Place, Dirty Freaks and All.” By the mid-1960s, the number of African American students enrolled at the university climbed from a token handful to more than 10%, and more African American students were also living on campus. 1961 Paul Hogue, Tom Thacker, and Tony Yates lead the University of Cincinnati basketball team to the NCAA championship with a victory over Ohio State University. That championship is followed by another one in 1962, again over Ohio State. In the following year, UC lost in the championship game to Loyola of Chicago. It was the first time the majority of the starting players for the title game teams were African American. 1966 The United Black Student Association is formed under the leadership of Dwight Tillery, who later becomes a Cincinnati attorney and the city’s second African American mayor. 1966 The University of Cincinnati receives a Danforth Foundation Grant to provide financial support to minority students in 10 graduate programs. This grant helps form a graduate intern program in the Institute for Research and Training in Higher Education (IRTHE). In 1978, it becomes part of the Graduate School and the name is changed to the Minority Fellows Scholar Program. 1968 Dwight Tillery organizes an African American student protest group issuing a list of 30 demands to President Walter Langsam regarding racial discrimination on campus. Concerns included a lack of African American faculty and staff; limited support for DRAFT 4 African American student organizations and concerns; and the need for an African American cultural center. As later stated by Tillery, “Many of the demands were met including the establishment of the African American Studies Department and the formal recognition and funding of the United Black Association (UBA) as a student organization, and the promise of a Black Cultural Center.” 1968 Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Tau Psi Chapter, is established in September. 1968 Reverend L.Venchael Booth becomes the first African American member of the Board of Directors. He is reappointed when his term expires in 1970 and serves as a Trustee through 1989. 1968 Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes and Theodore M. Berry, Cincinnati’s first African American mayor, receive the university’s first honorary doctorates awarded to African Americans. 1969 Lawrence Hawkins is named Dean of the College of Community Services, thus becoming the university’s first African American dean. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1970s 1970s The College of Nursing establishes a Minority Affairs office, now inactive. 1970 UC creates the Office of Metropolitan Services under the leadership of Calvert Smith. 1970 The Department of Afro-American Studies is formed, now the Department of African and African American Studies. 1970 The United Black Faculty and Staff Association is created by William David, chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies. 1971 The Minority Groups Counseling Center is founded and Evangeline Norton is named its director. 1972 Charles Johnson becomes the Vice President of Metropolitan Services, thus becoming the first African American vice president at the university. 1972 A meeting is held by university faculty, staff, and students to discuss conflict among African American student organizations. 1972 The Hanarobi Contemporary Gospel Ensemble is formed for the same reasons as was Quadres. 1972 Geraldine Rickman is named Director of Resource Development and Special Assistant to the President by UC President Warren Bennis. DRAFT 5 1973 The Office of Minority Affairs is established and headed by program coordinator Tyra Garlington. It is now the Office of Ethnic Programs and Services. 1973 Lawrence Hawkins is named Vice President for Metropolitan Services. 1974 Benjamin Hooks and Reverend Jesse Jackson both receive the university’s Award for Excellence. 1974 Hawkins becomes Vice President and Vice Provost for Continuing Education and Metropolitan Services. 1974 Poet Gwendolyn Brooks receives an honorary doctorate. 1975 Cincinnati City Councilwoman Marian Spencer becomes the first African American female member of the Board of Directors, serving until the board is reconstituted by the State of Ohio in 1977 as the Board of Trustees. 1975 Ronald Temple is named Dean of University College. 1975 Coretta Scott King and Oscar Robertson both receive the university’s Award for Excellence. 1975 Tyrone Yates is elected as the first African American student body president. Later he becomes a Cincinnati City Councilman and an Ohio state senator. 1975 Zeta Phi Beta, Beta Eta Chapter is established in November, and Vera M. Williams, a charter member, becomes UC’s first African American homecoming queen. 1975 Shirley Chisholm receives an honorary doctorate. 1976 The Minority Scholars Program (now the Turner Scholars Program) and the Corbett Scholars Program are established with the support of state senators William Mallory, James Rankin and William Bowen. 1976 P. Eric Abercrumbie is named Program Coordinator for the Office of Minority Affairs. 1976 4452 African American students are enrolled at the University of Cincinnati. 1976 Albert Yates becomes Vice President and University Dean for Graduate Education and Research. 1976 Stephney Jean Keyser becomes Chair of the School of Social Work. 1976 Barbara Jordan receives an honorary doctorate. 1976 Alvin Ailey receives the university’s Award for Excellence. DRAFT 6 1977 Lawrence Hawkins is appointed Senior Vice President for Administration and Secretary of the Board of Trustees. He becomes the first African American Senior Vice President. 1977 Marquita McLean is named Interim Vice President for Personnel. By 1978, she is Associate Senior Vice President for University Services. 1977 Nikki Giovanni, Louis Farrakhan, the Hanorobi Contemporary Gospel Ensemble, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and Virginia Coffey receive the university’s Award for Excellence. 1977 The University of Cincinnati becomes a full state institution on July 1. 1977 A task force is established and chaired by Robert Meacham, Director of Student Life & Counseling at the university’s Ohio College of Applied Sciences, to make an assessment of African American student life. Based on this report, the Office of Minority Affairs within the Student Affairs Division is expanded and renamed the Office of Minority Programs and Services. 1978 Meacham is named Associate Vice Provost of Minority Programs and Services. 1978 Sigma Gamma Rho, Nu Gamma Chapter, is established on April 10. 1978 Marilyn Rifkin becomes the first Director of Affirmative Action. 1979 Regina Sofer becomes the first African American Director of Affirmative Action. 1979 The College of Engineering establishes the Minority Engineering Program. 1979 Jesse Jackson receives an honorary doctorate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1980s 1980s The College of Pharmacy and the College-Conservatory of Music establish Minority Affairs offices, now inactive. 1980 Phi Beta Sigma, Lambda Theta Chapter, is established on April 21. 1981 William F. Bowen and Albert Yates both receive the university’s Award for Excellence. 1982 The Minority Groups Counseling Center’s name is changed to the Multi-Ethnic Counseling Center. DRAFT 7 1982 Local newspaper publisher Marjorie Parham becomes the second African American female named to the Board of Trustees. During her tenure on the board, she will be confronted in Tangeman University Center’s Great Hall by a hostile group of faculty and students regarding UC’s financial investments in South Africa. 1982 Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity (SAE) holds a “Martin Luther King Trash Party.” This was the first year the State of Ohio recognizes Martin Luther King’s birthday as a national holiday. SAE distributes inflammatory racist flyers that stereotype and denigrate African American student life and culture. The event and flyers trigger large African American and white student protests on campus led by UBA Student President Chris Mack, who is now the Executive Vice President of PNC Bank Corporation and a major UC donor. The situation made national news. Demands for the permanent expulsion of the SAE fraternity as a student organization were modified by UC administration to a two-year suspension, with one year being eliminated based on the fraternity’s yearlong commitment to community service and racial awareness programs. However, racial dissension on campus remains a serious concern. 1983 The News Record labels P. Eric Abercrumbie, Assistant Director of the Office of Minority Programs and Services, a racist and demands his resignation. Discussions by university faculty, staff and students, both for and against his dismissal, last for six weeks. 1983 The Black Man Think Tank is implemented under the leadership of Abercrumbie. 1983 Howard Bell becomes Vice President for Administrative Services. 1983 Tony Yates is named Head Basketball Coach. 1983 Darwin T. Turner and Kathleen Battle both receive honorary doctorates. 1984 UC offers James Meredith, an American civil rights movement figure, a visiting professorship. The agreement is for him to hold six lectures, with his contract renewable annually for up to five years. The university gives him wide leeway in his lectures, but he became more controversial than university officials ever imagined. He begins lecturing about Cincinnati’s role in slavery and includes strong remarks about the paltry number of African American athletes graduating from the university. By the third lecture, university officials are dismayed. By his last lecture that first year, he is talking to near empty rooms. His contract is not renewed. His major conflict is with other African American faculty and staff. He later stated, “They didn’t like me for too long, Negroes or the white folks.” 1984 Guion S. Bluford, Jr. receives the university’s Award for Excellence. 1985 James Baroni, Student Government President, recommends the abolishment of African American student organizations on campus, inciting angry student protests and a volatile campus environment. Student Affairs is charged with bringing students together to discuss issues, to hear different perspectives and identify possible resolutions. The result is the creation of the Racial Awareness Pilot Program (RAPP). DRAFT 8 1985 RAPP submits petitions to Faculty Senate’s General Education Committee to require all undergraduate students to take courses dealing with racism and other contemporary social issues. RAPP students commit a full year to weekly “rap sessions,” where candid discussions on race are explored and action plans for dealing with racial incidents are developed and implemented. The program receives national media coverage in Black Issues in Higher Education (November 1986) and on the CBS News with Dan Rather. The program is later replicated at several universities, including the University of Toledo and Cornell University. 1985 Loretta C. Manggrum receives an honorary doctorate. 1987 Lonnie Wagstaff becomes Dean of the College of Education. 1987 Frank Bowen is named Director of Residence Life and Housing. Linda Bates Parker is named Director of Career Development & Placement, later renamed as the Career Development Center. 1988 During Spring Break, African American students participate in the annual Ethnic Programs and Services Spring Break Tour. As a result of visiting the Joseph Bishop Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt University, these students, under the leadership of Harlan Jackson and the United Black Association, return to the university and develop a proposal to request the university formally create a Black culture center. The students gain the support of other student organizations, especially student government and many other university offices and student organizations. The next year, after receiving the support of campus students, staff and faculty, the United Black Association formally requests President Joseph Steger to consider their proposal. President Steger presents this request to the Board of Trustees, chaired by Attorney Stanley Chesley. When board member Dr. O’dell Owens first hears of this proposal, he votes against it and states that he would only support a multicultural center. As a result of African American student leaders going to talk with Dr. Owens at his home, he changes his mind, and he and his wife donate $10,000 toward the establishment of the center. After this action, the Board of Trustees approves the request for the establishment of the center and directs President Steger to proceed. 1988 Faculty Senate supports a “Contemporary Issues Inter-Disciplinary” course requirement. 1988 President Steger establishes a university-wide committee, President’s Advisory Council on Race Relations and Human Decency (PACRRHD), now dissolved. 1988 Faculty Senate holds “Exploring Racism in the Classroom” workshops. 1988 A “Quality of Work Life” survey is conducted to measure employee attitudes toward working conditions. DRAFT 9 Vice Provost and Associate University Dean Mary Ellen Ashley publishes Combating Racism on College Campuses: A Resource Book and Model for the 90’s. It is presented on UC’s campus and at various higher education campuses to respond more effectively to racism on college campuses. 1989 President Steger sets up a feasibility committee, chaired by Provost Anthony Perzigan and composed of 40 students and staff, to study the establishment of an African American cultural center. After several meetings and visiting several African American cultural and multicultural centers around the country, the committee submits its final report to Steger on November 20. The next spring, the Faculty Senate votes to support the establishment of the center. The Board of Trustees mandates that the center be opened by Autumn Quarter of 1991. 1989 African American student enrollment is 3,083. 1989 The Board of Trustees approves resolutions endorsing actions “to erase racism on our campus.” 1989 Vice Provost Thomas Wagner circulates a position paper, “Racism at UC,” calling for a comprehensive institutional plan. 1989 A Faculty Senate retreat titled “Discussion on Campus Racism” is cancelled due to AAUP-UC union negotiations. 1989 The Ohio Board of Regents sponsors conferences in Cincinnati titled “Racism: The Phoenix of the ’90s.” 1989 Vice Provost Milton Hinton’s “Action Plan for Diversity Phase I” is implemented, outlining the affirmative hiring approval process. The plan allows units with conspicuous racial imbalance to bypass the traditional search process to recruit and hire African American faculty. It also permits variances to a three-year waiting period to fill retirement vacancies, if filled by a minority, with guaranteed position funding from the Provost’s Office. 1989 Provost Norman Baker creates the Margaret Core Tangeman Award for Human Dignity to recognize administrators and organizations that improve the campus environment by significant actions that demonstrate an appreciation for differences. 1989 O’dell Owens is named to the Board of Trustees. 1989 P. Eric Abercrumbie is named Director of Minority Programs and Services. 1989 The Office of Minority Programs and Services is renamed the Office of Ethnic Programs and Services. 1989 Reverend L. Venchael Booth receives an honorary doctorate. DRAFT 10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1990s 1990s Iota Phi Theta, Beta Epsilon Chapter is established. The Minority Engineering Program is renamed the Emerging Ethnic Engineering Program. 1990 Louis Castenell becomes Dean of the College of Education. 1990 Jeanette Taylor is named Dean of the College of Evening and Continuing Education, thus becoming the first female African American dean at the university. 1990 A group of graduating seniors led by Denise Wadlington approaches the university to suggest a celebratory event for African American graduates. Thus, the first Tyehimba Celebration occurs in June of 1991. 1991 Barbara Walker is named to the new position of Vice President of Human Resources and Human Relations. 1991 The Minority Scholars Program name is changed to the Darwin T. Turner Scholars Program in honor of Turner. 1991 The first version of the university’s campus Master Plan is implemented. 1991 The African American Cultural and Research Center officially opens with the Swahili expression “Habari Gani,” which means “What Good News You Have,” on September 21. 1991 Vera Edwards receives the university’s Award for Excellence. 1992 With the support of board member O’dell Owens, the Edwards Center is dedicated, named after a renowned African American professor and community educator, Dr. Vera Edwards, who taught in the College of Education. 1992 Dwight Tillery receives the university’s Award for Excellence. 1993 John Johnson is named Vice President for Human Resources and Human Relations. 1993 Samella Sanders Lewis receives an honorary doctorate. 1994 Mitchel Livingston is named Vice President for Student Affairs. 1994 The name of the Minority Fellows Scholarship Program is changed to the Albert C. Yates Fellowship in honor of Yates’ tenure as Graduate Dean. DRAFT 11 1994 A statue of Bearcat basketball legend Oscar Robertson is donated to the university and placed in front of the Shoemaker Center. 1994 George Reid is named Dean of University College. 1994 Mitchel Livingston asks the Master Plan developers, Hargreaves and Associates, what the plan was going to do for students. He suggests the concept of the “One Stop Center.” 1995 The Board of Trustees adopts the recommendation for a One-Stop Center to handle financial aid, registration, advising and other student services. 1995 Jeffrey Burgin is elected Student Body President. 1995 Phillip Jackson is appointed as Director of the School of Social Work. 1995 Vice President Mitchel Livingston begins discussions of the Just Community Initiative. 1996 John Johnson, Vice President for Human Resources and Human Relations, is fired and sues the university for racial discrimination. 1996 The Just Community principles, under the leadership of Mitchel Livingston, are approved by the university and implemented. 1996 Nathaniel R. Jones receives an honorary doctorate. 1997 James Upshaw is elected Student Body President. 1997 O’dell M. Owens receives an honorary doctorate. 1998 Joseph Reid is elected Student Body President. 1998 Evangeline Norton becomes Director of the Psychological Services Center. 1998 John Hope Franklin receives an honorary doctorate. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2000s 2000 Jahi Edwards is elected Student Body President. 2000 Frank Bowen is named Associate Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students. DRAFT 12 2000 Marjorie B. Parham receives an honorary doctorate. 2001 Robert Richardson is elected Student Body President. 2001 In April, the campus is closed to the outside community during the evening hours due to downtown racial tension stemming from the killing of African American teenager Timothy Thomas by a white Cincinnati police officer, Steven Roach; curfews were set by the City of Cincinnati. State Senator Mark Mallory and other university officials meet with a group of students in front of the African American Cultural and Research Center to hear their concerns. Later that month, University of Cincinnati students make national news by appearing on NBC Evening News to march as part of a community protest against Cincinnati police brutality. 2001 Fred Shuttlesworth, Bill Cosby and Henry T. Brown receive honorary doctorates. 2002 Darren Tolliver is elected Student Body President. 2002 Turner Hall is dedicated as a tribute to the late Darwin T. Turner. 2003 Ron Ricks II is elected Student Body President. 2003 In March, more than 300 students, mostly African American, are charged by the university with illegally using its long distance telephone code. They are told to pay or be prosecuted. 2003 During Winter Quarter, Mitchel Livingston meets with 150 African American students at the African American Cultural and Research Center to discuss the future of the center. This meeting occurs because African American students hear that due to the expansion of the Varsity Village, the future of the African American Cultural and Research Center was in limbo. 2003 Delores Straker is appointed Dean of Raymond Walters College. 2003 President Joseph Steger assures Student Government that the African American Cultural and Research Center will remain in existence and will not become a multi-cultural center. 2003 Pride Grants are established by the university to benefit the education of African American students in the Cincinnati Public Schools. 2003 Clark E. Beck receives an honorary doctorate. 2004 University College is eliminated as an academic unit and the Center for Access and Transition is established. 2004 Frank Bowen meets with over 100 African American students at the African American Cultural and Research Center to discuss Black-on-Black violence at UC. DRAFT 13 2004 Mitchel Livingston charges Linda Bates Parker with convening a task force to make recommendations on incorporating diversity into UC|21. Recommendations are submitted to Livingston. 2004 On April 23, African American students stage a campus-wide protest concerning recruitment and retention efforts for African American students and staff, and again raise the question about the future of the African American Cultural and Research Center. Students stage the protest on a major student recruitment day, in front of the Shoemaker Center, and tell students not to attend UC until conditions for African American students and staff improve. Also, a group of African American students stage a protest at the President’s office. After this event, meetings are held with President Nancy Zimpher, her staff and Mitchel Livingston. One of the major concerns of the students is that Tyehimba, the Afrocentric graduation ceremony, will not occur. Livingston and Frank Bowen find a solution for this problem and it occurs as planned under the title of Ushindi Graduation Celebration. 2004 Coretta Scott King receives an honorary doctorate. 2005 The Diversity Collaborative Proposal submitted to President Zimpher by Mitchel Livingston is reviewed by the UC|21 Committee. Zimpher establishes the President’s UC|21 Diversity Task Force, co-chaired by her and Marian Spencer, to recommend an overall strategy and action plan for promoting diversity at the university. 2006 Under the leadership of former president Joseph Steger and current president Nancy Zimpher, the vision of Mitchel Livingston’s “MainStreet” becomes a reality and is officially dedicated on May 19 and 20. 2006 Under the leadership of African American Alumni Association President Bleuzette Marshall, for the second consecutive year, 400 African American alumni return for Homecoming Weekend. 2006 The university celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Just Community Initiative. 2006 Honorary doctorates are awarded to U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Pamela Bridgewater, Donald Spencer, and Marian Spencer. 2006 African American student enrollment at the University of Cincinnati totals 3,858. DRAFT 14 Selected Sources for Information Grace, Kevin and Hand, Greg. The University of Cincinnati. Montgomery, AL: Community Communications, Inc., 1995. Haygood, Will. “A Mississippi Odyssey.” In: The Washington Post, September 29, 2002. News Record. Cincinnati, OH: The University of Cincinnati. “Parties under investigation.” January 26, 1982, pg. 1. “Blacks call for ouster of SAE chapter.” January 29, 1982, pg. 1. “SAE’s get 2-year suspension.” February 5, 1982, pg. 1. “Ralliers denounce UC, SAE punishment.” February 16, 1982, pg. 1. “Abercrumbie’s remarks racist; his usefulness at UC is over.” April 20, 1983, pg. 6. Parker, Linda Bates. “A Select Chronology of Critical Events at UC on the Path to Inclusion and Diversity.” Paper presented at the meeting of the Diversity Task Force, Cincinnati, OH., May 2006. In addition to these references, additional information was obtained or confirmed from Greg Hand, Associate Vice President for Public Relations and University Spokesperson; Mitchel Livingston, Vice President for Student Affairs and Services; UC Student Government; and various UC staff and alumni. DRAFT 15