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Khayat retires as Ole Miss chief
Published Tuesday, January 6, 2009
JACKSON (AP) — Outgoing chancellor Robert Khayat helped transform the University of Mississippi, once the site of one of the South’s bloodiest integration battles, into a leader in racial reconciliation and a respected national institution.
Khayat, who announced Tuesday that he’ll retire on June 30, increased minority enrollment at the university nearly 79 percent since he took over in 1995.
The Oxford-based campus, where federal troops had to escort James Meredith in 1962 as he became the first black student to enroll, is now home to a nationally recognized institute dedicated to bridging racial divides. In September, the university hosted a prestigious presidential debate between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.
Khayat also built Ole Miss into one of the region’s most prosperous schools as its operating budget grew from $114.3 million in 1995 to its current $472 million.
The university’s research and development grants exceed $100 million annually and he helped the university raise nearly $800 million in private donations.
Forbes Magazine ranked Ole Miss among the nation’s top 25 public universities last year.
‘‘I leave with an abiding affection for the people and the school, and with confidence that this university will continue to provide the quality programs so vital to our state and region’’ the 70-year-old Khayat said in an Ole Miss press release.
Amy Whitten, president of the state College Board, said the panel will meet Jan. 15 to accept Khayat’s retirement and discuss the university’s transition.
Khayat’s long association with Ole Miss began when he was an undergraduate in 1956. He was a standout athlete as a baseball catcher and football kicker who went on to a three-year professional career with the Washington Redskins.
Khayat returned to Ole Miss’ law school in 1963 and three years later he joined the school’s faculty.
Refining the university’s image was a priority that culminated with the presidential debate last September.
‘‘An honest look at us will say this is a university that came from 1962 — where it took the United States military and the president to get one black person in school — to a very diverse community where people treat each other with respect and affection,’’ Khayat told The Associated Press in an interview last year.
Two people died in the 1962 uprising that many consider a defining crack in the South’s segregationist society.
Years before Meredith’s attempt, another civil rights activist tried to become the first black student at Ole Miss. NAACP leader Medgar Evers, assassinated in Jackson in 1963, was denied entry to the university’s law school in 1954, but some four decades later his relatives are among those who have earned degrees, said his brother, Charles Evers.
Khayat has ‘‘shown tremendous progress toward blacks,’’ Charles Evers said Tuesday. ‘‘Medgar didn’t make it, but I have two granddaughters, one graduated last year from Ole Miss and one will this year.’’
Khayat has always ‘‘encouraged dialogue and debate’’ about race, said Susan Glisson, director of the Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, created by the university in 1999 to research race, discrimination and its impact.
Khayat’s emphasis on diversity issues extended into medical research, as well, said Dr. Dan Jones, vice chancellor of health affairs at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
‘‘When it comes to health disparities across races, Chancellor Khayat encouraged the Medical Center’s leadership to expand its vision and role in addressing these disparities in our state and nation,’’ he said.
In 1999, UMC became a partner in a national study of heart disease in blacks.
Comments
Posted by reb1843 (anonymous) on January 7, 2009 at 5:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank goodness he's gone!!!
Now, maybe the school will allow "Dixie" to be played and not be ashamed of the Southern national anthem. And, maybe...just maybe...we'll see Battle Flags like before to cheer on and inspire the Ole Miss Rebels!
And, who can ever forget the U of M marching band, standing at one goal line, march out to the tune of "Are You From Dixie"? If that didn't make you stand up, clap your hands, and get a tear in your eye, you must be a damyankee.
Posted by drawpaintsing (anonymous) on January 8, 2009 at 9:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I've always heard that Ole Miss was a racist school, but I'm not sure if that's true, because a lot of Blacks go there. Maybe the ones who told me have their own personal feeling of it. I can't say for myself, but that seems to be the stereotype for that school. To me, that's just hear-say.
Posted by CHall1229 (Christina Hall) on January 8, 2009 at 11:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Reb1843, Dixie is played at every football game by our band, home and away.
Posted by mike8427 (anonymous) on January 8, 2009 at 11:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
REb you ever been to a game? Dixie is played at all games I have been to.
Posted by LOVESNATCHEZ (anonymous) on January 9, 2009 at 10:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"DIXIE" is not played at the half time shows on the field. That's thanks to Khayat and Boone. I wish Boone would leave with him. The only racist part of this story is that the black band members who were going to Ole Miss on a scholorship would lay their instruments down and turn their back while Dixie was played. Now don't go hating on me. I know this for a fact. We went to every Ole Miss game for over 6 years. Our son was Captain of the drum line for 4 years. Dixie is (and should always be) a part of Ole Miss. End of story.
Posted by drawpaintsing (anonymous) on January 9, 2009 at 10:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I somehow think you were responding to me, Lovesnatchez, but I really didn't mean any harm by what I said. I tried to be as sensitive as possible. Like I said, that's what I heard. I don't know. I never been there. I really didn't say who was being racist. I must admit that by the stories I've been told, it is both ways.
.......my apologies to you, or anyone else.
Posted by LOVESNATCHEZ (anonymous) on January 9, 2009 at 11:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you "draw". Very kind of you and accepted:)
Have a great weekend.
Posted by drawpaintsing (anonymous) on January 9, 2009 at 11:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yeah "Loves", sometimes things can be misunderstood. I reread me first post, and with my first sentence, I was really saying that Ole Miss can't be racist, because they accept Blacks. To me if it is, then they wouldn't.
.......just want to clarify that.
Posted by CHall1229 (Christina Hall) on January 9, 2009 at 2:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Lovesnatchez, they don't play Dixie during every halftime show. They do play Dixie at every single game.
Posted by reb1843 (anonymous) on January 9, 2009 at 4:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The point I was trying to make is this: Khayat is a second-generation Lebanese (now, don't go start calling me a 'racist') who doesn't have a clue and/or appreciation for things regarding the history and/or culture of the South or of Ole Miss. He got to go there years ago because he could play a game.
He single-handedly (with help from former head football coach Tuberville and the AD) wanted to rid Ole Miss of all things "Rebel," including the Colonel Reb mascot, the flying of battle flags during the games, etc. in order to recruit black players. This was done solely for political-correctness. In addition, he did all that to have Ole Miss granted Phi Beta Kappa status, an award granted by the liberal Eastern establishment (we have the paper trail on this). He thought that by ridding the campus of all things 'rebel', and bending at the knee to them, the school would be accepted to award the Key.
What is the current black student make-up on campus? About 10-15% of the student body? If a black athlete and/or student is "offended" by these symbols of Ole Miss and the South, they should perhaps go to school elsewhere.
Posted by LOVESNATCHEZ (anonymous) on January 13, 2009 at 11:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
God bless you Reb. These people just don't get it. I'll promise you one thing, if all of us "M" club sponsers stopped giving money, what do you think would happen? In all honesty and no racisism involved, the blacks do not donate.
Posted by AJStoneJackson (anonymous) on January 18, 2009 at 12:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It is absolutely remarkable that anyone would not appreciate what Khayat did for Ole Miss.
The University of Mississippi has been very fortunate for his tenure. The racial overtones of several of these remarks above scare me for the University.
Mississippi could not have stayed in the mud of white superiority and be taken seriously in this nation. Khayat reformed the University in a way that has brought it honor and dignity without throwing away the stature of the past.
Sadly, there are obviously bigots who wish that Ole Miss was still a place for white privilege alone.
Thank God Robert Khayat was not, and is not, such a person.
Today Ole Miss has a future. When this man become President of the University, really, in truth, it had none.
Thank you Kayat! May our next President have half the decency, foresight, courage and capacity that you have proven yourself capable.
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