If a white man can graduate from Morehouse, then why can’t a black man become president?
Morehouse College, an institution with a 141-year history of educating black men, has something to be proud of. Morehouse has accepted the challenge the add diversity to its school, and it has succeeded in the mission of bringing another group of educated men to our world. On May 18, 2008, a young man named Joshua Packwood became the first white man to graduate as valedictorian. He earned a 4.0 GPA and a degree in economics.
Packwood is not the first white man to attend Morehouse, nor is he the only one who has graduated. Like most historically black institutions, there have been several students on campus who were not black. In 1966, Howard Zehr was the first white student to receive a degree from Morehouse.
It seems as if Morehouse has been quite accepting of Packwood. At Morehouse he has done the following:
He has been elected dorm president his freshman year.
He has been a favorite in fashion shows.
He has been a Rhodes Scholar finalist.
He has a job at the prestigious investment banking firm (Goldman Sachs) in New York City.
Some could say that Packwood chose Morehouse for the “black” experience:
In Kansas City, Mo., he was among the few white students in his class at Grandview Senior High School
His mother was married to a black man.
He has mixed-race siblings.
What does this mean for the future of Morehouse? Will black universities become “extinct”?
According to the article in The Chicago Tribune, Packwood chose Morehouse over the ivy league school, Columbia University. While at Morehouse, Packwood said, ” I’ve been forced to see the world in a different perspective that I don’t think I could’ve gotten anywhere else.”
Regardless of why he went to Morehouse, what matters most is that Packwood seemed to have had a great experience. Morehouse treated him like everyone else. He worked hard, he got involved and he earned that degree. His younger brother, John will attend Morehouse next year.
Is this going to change the face of Morehouse? Will more white men elect Morehouse over other institutions? If so, will this change our education system?
Personally, I don’t think so. Packwood is not the only person to graduate as a valedictorian from Morehouse. His story is just unique. From what I have been reading on several blogs, a young man from Morehouse named Joshua Harris also graduated with a 4.0. So let’s not forget about him either.
