By Arianna Johnson
The purpose of Clark Atlanta University is to build leaders before, during, and after they attend the university, according to the school’s president.
“We’re obligated to provide a holistic approach to how we guide and mold our students’ academic, professional and personal future,” Dr. George T. French Jr. stated.
He said this at CAU’s Annual Fall Convocation before an online audience of students, faculty, staff and alumni via Zoom on Sept. 15, in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Look at us… this afternoon. We are not on campus, we are on a Zoom platform,” Dr. French, said in reference to how the school has been able to make adjustments and still carry out its mission to accommodate changes caused by the coronavirus. All the event’s speakers wore university branded masks while not presenting.
“We mark our place in the annals of higher education history as being number one,” President French said.
Convocation is a time to welcome new students as well as to educate the audience on the history of Clark Atlanta University. President French wanted viewers to remember the past of Clark Atlanta University and the founding of its institutions. Atlanta University was founded in 1865 by the American Missionary Society and Clark College was founded in 1869 by the Methodist Episcopal Church. Atlanta University was the United States’ first graduate school for African-Americans, and Clark College was the first private liberal arts college to offer bachelor’s degrees to African-Americans. The two schools consolidated in 1988 to form what is now known as Clark Atlanta University.
“Now I know that many of us already know CAU’s history, but it is essential to remember and always acknowledge from whence we have come,” he stated.
“I can only imagine that alumnus James Weldon Johnson’s reference to ‘facing the rising sun’ in his 1904 poem ‘Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing’ may have been greatly influenced while walking the hollow grounds of this university,” President French said.
President French chose “Facing the Rising Sun Together” as the motto for the current academic school year. He went into depth about the meaning of the sun as a symbol. Historically, the sun has symbolized life and power. Although the university has suffered tragic events like the off-campus shooting of a student in fall 2019, President French called on his faculty and staff to come together and use their collective power to serve their student body. He urged professors to pour into their students’ educational careers and hinted towards powerful corporate partnerships within the coming weeks.
“The essence of facing the rising sun together has long been an unspoken mantra that has permeated throughout the history of Clark Atlanta University,” President French stated.
Dr. French took a moment of silence to remember the late Chadwick Boseman, an alumnus of Howard University, another HBCU. Boseman is best known for his role as king T’Challa in Marvel movie “Black Panther.” Boseman died of cancer at the age of 43 on Aug. 28.
The university’s first reopening plan was to allow freshmen, sophomores, transfer students, resident assistance, student leaders, and students with university covered housing to live on-campus while upperclassmen were to continue with remote learning. But this changed after the university found out that 97 percent of the incoming class was coming from states with high cases of coronavirus.
To accommodate the university’s remote learning environment, according to Dr. French, Clark Atlanta University purchased 4,000 laptops for its students totaling $3.2 million. The university also had to adjust to the new virtual environment by holding their 2020 Commencement online. According to President French, the university is working toward an in-person graduation in the coming months.
President French is a graduate of Jackson State University and Miles Law School. During Dr. French’s time as the president of Miles College, his mentor, former Miles College President Albert J. H. Sloan, introduced him to Dr. Thomas W. Cole Jr., the first president of Clark Atlanta University. President French presented Dr. Cole with an honorary doctorate from Clark Atlanta University during the Convocation.
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