By Reginald Stuart
Two of the state’s education champions –former Governor and U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and noted attorney Rita Geier – were saluted this summer by the University of Tennessee board of trustees with honorary doctorate degrees.
The actions, taken at a late June board meeting, came amid a packed board agenda that included raising tuition for the first time in four years to attend the multi-campus institution, based in Knoxville, and updating the guaranteed admissions policy.
In a statement from the UT Board, announcing the honorary degrees, the board members said Alexander and Geier “have devoted their lives to education.”
In approving an honorary Doctor of Laws for Rita Geier, the UT board said her “courageous legal efforts transformed Tennessee’s educational system and paved the way for a more inclusive society. Throughout her legal career, Geier challenged discriminatory policies and tirelessly advocated for the rights of all citizens,” the UT board statement continued.
Geier, a Memphis native, is a graduate of Fisk University. She taught briefly at Tennessee State University and studied law at Vanderbilt. She was taught by the law school `dream team’ of the 1960’s, of whom Attorney George Barrett was a member.
After talking with Barrett, a Father Ryan High School graduate, about racial segregation in higher education in state-controlled schools, they collectively decided such a policy for higher education was unfair. Barrett, who had worked with then city Councilmember Z. Alexander Looby and his assistant, Avon Williams Jr., on local segregation issues, challenged Geier to go to federal court and try to end the segregation of funding, enrollment and money; and thus end the “dual system” in education.
Williams, who later was elected a state senator, led a growing group of lawmakers championing an end to discriminatory practices in state controlled-higher education in colleges and universities. In the process, Geier was thrust into a head-on legal battle to block UT’s efforts to expand its Nashville center into a downtown campus.
At key junctions it also included state investments for upgrading the buildings and grounds of Tennessee State University, closing the University of Tennessee Nashville Center and establishing the Avon Williams Jr. downtown branch of TSU.
During the 38-year run of the lawsuit, the case had 10 state attorneys general, seven state governors and a host of university presidents and administrators.
Geier was contacted at her home in Annapolis, Maryland, about the UT honor, and said, “the news came as a surprise and is fully appreciated.”
Alexander was awarded an honorary Doctor of Educational Leadership and Policy from the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences for his “unwavering dedication to improving education at all levels,” the UT statement said.
Alexander has served as president of the University of Tennessee, governor of Tennessee, a U.S. senator from Tennessee and secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.
