When I was younger, my parents and grandparents constantly told me great things about the University of Alabama.
I went to Tuscaloosa for football games, took the quintessential campus tour and chose to come to Auburn.
I chose Auburn because this University proved to me it could provide better opportunities, and now it’s time for Auburn to prove to the country it can provide an opportunity of change in direction on the Board of Trustees.
An editorial ran last week in this paper regarding the recent vacancy on the Auburn University Board of Trustees. The Editorial Board suggested possible replacements for Earlon McWhorter, and while some proposals were an opportunity for jokes, others served as a serious signal of reflection for Governor Riley.
I get a lot of communication from students and I’ve been moved by them telling me they want to feel hopeful about Auburn again. And now, hope is on the way, that is why I am endorsing a candidate for the Board of Trustees, Cynthia Tucker.
I am proud to throw my support to Ms. Tucker because I know she is the right person at the right time for Auburn.
Sometimes it takes a while to realize someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourself, Ms. Tucker’s writing has given hope to many who the majority abandoned.
Ms. Tucker was born in Monroeville one year after Brown v. Board of Education, where separate no longer meant equal, she did not attend an integrated school until her junior high years.
After her graduation from Auburn in 1976, she went to work for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where she is now the editorial page editor and a syndicated columnist.
Last year, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary for her “courageous, clear-headed columns that evince a strong sense of morality and persuasive knowledge of the community.”
One thing is certain about this trustee opening: this opportunity is the opportunity for Auburn to show the country this University is interested in moving forward, not backward.
For far too long, diversity has not been a priority at Auburn. Many of our own on-campus organizations are still deeply divided by class and race.
War Eagle Girls and Plainsmen, perhaps the most prestigious on-campus student organization, still struggles in efforts of achieving an accurate representation of the Auburn University student body.
This is an organization whose sole purpose is to represent the University, and yet only one of the 25 members is African-American, 23 are Caucasian and only four are independent of any Panhellenic or Interfraternity Council Greek organization.
If this shows the Board anything, it’s how not to run an organization.
Having a lack of diversity constitutes a lack of ideas.
The Board of Trustees should be comprised of 14 men and women who accurately represent Auburn University to the nation.
The era of cookie cutter politics where as long as fitting the mold meets the standards needs to end.
If Auburn is to be a University others look to for guidance, we need Ms. Tucker’s voice. We need to fix the diversity disparity that has been a caesura for Auburn and fix it so fundamentally that we can never go back to these failed policies of the past.
The Board needs more “courageous and clear-headed” trustees. “A strong sense of morality” couldn’t hurt either.
The kind of obdurate attitude toward minorities by Alabamians is the reason no one takes this state seriously.
When prospective students and their families visit Auburn they realize this is a valuable institution. Of course Auburn has been valuable to students and faculty for more than a century, but now is a chance for Auburn to show it can be valuable to the nation.
An old friend once told me good leaders come from good followers.
Auburn has followed for more than one can stomach.
It’s time for Auburn to emerge as a better leader.
For all intents and purposes, this is an open letter to Governor Riley.
David Ingram is the Editor of The Auburn Plainsman. You can reach him at 844-9021.
