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MOREHOUSE A CAMPUS NEWSLETTER FOR FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENTS MAY 2011 Price says HBCU grads do bet ter in the labor market Meet members of the first Renaissance Class African leaders talk about the continent's present and future Maroon Tigers spring sports teams win S1AC titles COMMENCEMENT/REUNION 2011 Ifill and Ogletree to Deliver Commencement Addresses ’• ° ,,r4 s-'IWUS,- . >:v,. Gwen Ifil Charles Ogletree F our years ago during fall 2007, President Robert Franklin ’75 returned to his alma mater to realize his vision of renaissance at Morehouse. At the same time, approximately 500 young men entered the campus for the first as men of Morehouse. On May 15, Franklin and those same young men - or what many call “the Renaissance Class” - will celebrate a successful four years at Morehouse during the College’s 127th Commencement ceremony. The class of 2011 includes young men who will work on Wall Street, attend graduate schools such as Stanford and Harvard, and work in their communities. One of those graduates, Camron J. Yarber ’ll, will deliver the valedictory address as the top scholar. Yarber, an accounting major, finishes at Morehouse with a 4.0 grade point average. More than 10,000 people will fill the Century Campus as journalist Gwen Ifill and Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree both deliver com mencement addresses. Ifill is a veteran political journalist and modera tor/managing editor of the PBS political roundtable talk show, “Washington Week” Ogletree, who is also a veteran civil rights attorney, taught both President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at Harvard. “With these two venerable change agents as speakers, Morehouse continues to serve as a forum for thought leaders and decision makers in the global marketplace of ideas, and thereby honor the legacy of our esteemed former presidents, as well as the shared aspirations of our alumni, faculty, staff and support ers,” Franklin said. Ifill and Morehouse trustee Billye Aaron will receive the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, while Ogletree and Morehouse College Board of Trustees chairman Willie “Flash” Davis ’56 will receive the honorary Doctor of Laws. Frederick D. Haynes III, senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, will deliver the Baccalaureate address on May 13 in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel. The weekend also will be a special one for alumni who return to campus for Reunion 2011. Activities include the Morehouse Commencement Golf Challenge on May 12, the Golden Tigers Breakfast on May 13, as well as the President’s Welcome Luncheon, the Rite of Passage Ceremony and the Morehouse-Spelman Reception. May 14 activities include the class agents meetings. Baccalaureate service and the reunion banquet. ■ See the Commencement/Reunion schedule on page 12. STATE OF THE COLLEGE Franklin's Goals Include Increasing Graduation Rate, Raising $125 Million BY ADD SEYMOUR JR. President Robert M. Franklin 75 OVER THE NEXT SIX YEARS, President Robert M. Franklin ’75 wants to see two-thirds of gradu ates get advanced degrees, raise the overall graduation rate to 80 percent, explore starting a mas ter’s degree program and, most importantly, raise $125 million. “It’s time for Morehouse to step up,” Franklin said during his State of the College Address on April 27 in the Bank of America Auditorium. “It’s time for great ness once again. We’ve already proven what we can do.” Franklin outlined the College’s challenges and plans during his speech, which was sponsored by the Morehouse College National Alumni Association and its Atlanta chapter. “We believe in Atlanta that an informed alumni body is an engaged alumni body,” said Brandon Banks ’06, Atlanta chap ter president. Members of the president’s leadership team - vice presidents Andre Bertrand ’76 (Campus Operations) and Phillip Howard ’87 (Institutional Advancement), chief financial officer Gwen Sykes and provost Weldon Jackson ’72 - were on hand to answer questions from the audience. But the President’s vision of the future dominated the evening. Franklin said international financial research firms have downgraded Morehouse’s financial outlook from “stable” to “negative” because of the tough fundraising climate and drops in endowment and enrollment. The College’s six-year, $125-mil- lion capital campaign will address fundraising and endowment con cerns, though Morehouse’s endow ment (which is $120 million) is one of only five HBCUs with more than $100 million. Franklin also said the cam paign, along with increased alumni giving, will allow the College to increase the number of faculty-endowed chairs and raise the compensation level for facul ty and staff. The President said within the campaign period he wanted to build a new student center, see the Morehouse Male Initiative achieve national stature and perhaps start a new masters degree program in leadership studies. In the immediate future, Franklin told alumni that the College’s size and character would be the subject of conversations among members of the Board of Trustees. They will talk about whether the College should remain a liberal arts institution or focus on pre-professional programs. They also will consider whether the student body should remain around 2,400 or be increased to as many as 3,500. Franklin challenged alumni to be part of the “futuring” of Morehouse. “This is what alums do at great colleges,” he said. ■