JACKSON, Miss. — More than 50 years ago, the University of Southern Mississippi rejected a chance to admit a Black man and end segregation in the state’s higher education system. Today, the school is likely to become the first of Mississippi’s historically White public universities to be led by a Black man.
College Board officials said Friday that they want Rodney Bennett, the University of Georgia’s vice president of student affairs, to become the next president of the 16,000-student USM.
Bennett was chosen from among three finalists by the board that oversees all eight public universities. Assuming campus interviews go well, Bennett will likely be named to the post Thursday.
A Tennessee native, Bennett worked at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. Bennett holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Middle Tennessee State and an educational doctorate from Tennessee State University in Nashville.
“I think the trajectory that the university is on lends itself to a possibility of changing the trajectory of higher education in Mississippi and the Southeast,” Bennett, who was not present for the announcement, said in a phone interview with reporters.
The focus Friday was on Bennett’s ability to mend USM’s strained finances, raise private money and recruit new students, not his skin color.
“We selected Dr. Bennett for his leadership abilities,” Blakeslee said. “He’s a man of integrity. We understand the significance, but it wasn’t a factor in the decision,” said Ed Blakeslee of Gulfport, president of the College Board.
