By Reginald Stuart WASHINGTON, DC — When President Trump this month reached the first anniversary of his tenure as chief executive of the United States, he had hoped to mark the occasion at his Florida resort surrounded by jubilant supporters and financial backers. Instead, Trump marked the occasion holed up here in the White House, avoiding most contact with the public—even by tweet—as the federal government partially shut down after Congress refused for the third time in recent weeks to approve a spending bill to keep the national government running. The inability of Trump to get the Republican controlled Congress…
Author: Reginald Stuart
By Reginald Stuart WASHINGTON, DC — Vanderbilt University, reasserting its efforts to become one of the nation’s higher education institutions known for outreach and diversity, came to the nation’s Capitol this month to take another bold step in demonstrating its work. Lead by a brief, compelling talk by Vanderbilt Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos, the university used the Smithsonian Institution’s new National Museum for African American History and Culture to introduce the nation to the new documentary film “TRIUMPH The Perry Wallace Story,” and to partner with the museum in staging an engaging panel discussion about race and sports. ‘TRIUMPH,” a…
By Reginald Stuart NASHVILLE, TN — When Perry Wallace arrived at Pearl High School in the fall of 1963, the outstanding Wharton Junior High School alum was ready to play his clarinet for the institution’s widely recognized band. Little did he or his peers and teachers know, a soon-to-be legend was quietly among them, hovering overhead in the hallways with his 6 foot tall plus frame and genuine smile. It did not take long for Pearl High basketball coach Cornelius Ridley, himself a Pearl High basketball Tiger alum, to hear Wallace had played on Wharton’s junior varsity basketball squad and…
By Reginald Stuart NASHVILLE, TN — Veteran journalist Dwight Lewis, the Tennessee State University graduate who spent more than 40 years of his journalism career championing civic and social issues as a reporter and later editor for The (Nashville) Tennessean, this month was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Tennessee Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The award has been given only 13 times in the 49 year history of the ACLU Tennessee Chapter, according to Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee. “We are recognizing you for your powerful and compassionate voice and life-time…
By Reginald Stuart When Fisk University goes on the hunt this school year for prospective students, its recruitment and sales team will likely include one of its most recent super boosters: Tanya Torres. Torres, a 21–year-old public school graduate from Houston, Texas, won’t need a sales script or note cards to make her pitch. She talks from her heart, touting the family-oriented nature of the Fisk community, giving props to teachers for their passionate push for excellence and crediting the university for helping her get good summer internships that help her stretch beyond what she knows in order to learn…
By Reginald Stuart In Nashville’s higher education community of more than a dozen colleges and universities, Vanderbilt University is considered the 800-pound gorilla in the room. It walks with a certain degree of humility, despite its standing, says Nicholas S. Zeppos, Vanderbilt Chancellor and chief executive for the past 11 years. “We’re only as good as our partner,” Zeppos said in a recent Tennessee Tribune interview about his hopes of working with Dr. Kevin Rome, Sr., the new President of Fisk University.” We’re (Vanderbilt) here to be a great partner,” said Chancellor Zeppos, citing decades of partnerships and engagement between…
By Reginald Stuart NASHVILLE, TN — When Dr. Kevin D. Rome Sr. arrived at Fisk University this summer as its fifth President in the last 17 years, he didn’t bring a magic wand or offer a secret recipe to help Fisk, despite the urgent need for phenomenal things to happen to upright the fate of Nashville’s oldest higher education. Still, he expressed no hesitancy or fear of taking on the job. “I’m not frightened by anything that’s occurred in the past,” said Dr. Rome, acknowledging, during a recent interview, his awareness of the university’s struggles in recent years. “I chose…
By Reginald Stuart Unemployment across the nation may be steadily decreasing from its high points of recent years, according to this month’s federal and state reports of record lows in unemployment. The nation’s 4.3 per cent unemployment rate and 1 million people plus gain in jobs headlines come with some potentially worrisome undercurrents, however, say local and national economists. Indeed, the nation’s unemployment rate last month was at its lowest point in two years, according to a federal Bureau of Labor Statistics report issued earlier this month. The state’s labor department reported an unemployment rate across Tennessee of four percent,…
By Reginald Stuart NASHVILLE, TN — When high school graduate Warrick Carter of Charlottesville, Virginia, arrived on the campus of Nashville’s Tennessee A & I State University in the fall of 1960, little did he, his family, friends, classmates or teachers know his landing would actually launch him into an exciting, seemingly endless orbit of opportunities to pursue his childhood aspirations of being a musician. Carter, a drummer and aspiring percussionist since childhood, was on the scene long before electronic drum sets and music machines. “He came down to Tennessee State and never looked back,” said Eddie Spencer Meadows, a…
By Reginald Stuart WASHINGTON, DC — President Trump’s establishment this month of a voter fraud commission has riled voter education and advocacy groups. They say there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud as the billionaire businessman-turned-politician has asserted and worry his commission will unnecessarily fuel efforts to make voter registration and voting harder. Establishment of the Commission “represents yet another veiled attempt to disenfranchise people of color,” said NAACP President and CEO Cornell Williams Brooks, in one of his final statements before being fired as president of the historic civil rights organization. The “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity”…