 "Photo: Megan Peyton")
At every sporting event, UT fans young and old sing "The Eyes of Texas." Not many, however, know it is set to the tune of a slave song.
At a brown bag lunch hosted by the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement on Thursday, visiting lecturer Dwonna Goldstone discussed these and other revelations about the University's slow process toward integration.
Published in 2006, Goldstone's book, "Integrating the 40 Acres: The 50-Year Struggle for Racial Equality at the University of Texas," shows desegregation in the areas of sports, dorms, social aspects and law school enrollment, which integrated before the undergraduate school did.
"I think that they want to pretend that it didn't really exist," said Goldstone. "They all think they're really liberal and everything is so wonderful and that black students and Mexican-American students don't come here because they don't want to."
Approximately 40 staff members attended Goldstone's luncheon and asked questions about the book, which was originally her dissertation, and her experiences in writing it.
"There's just collective denial that there's this racial history," she said.
UT's Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, established in February of this year, is a branch of the former Division of Community and School Relations.
"This gathering is to provide a venue for open discussion about diversity issues on campus," said Wanda Nelson, associate vice president for the University Outreach Center. "Today's sessions are an opportunity to review some historical experiences that have shaped the atmosphere here at the University of Texas and the culture that exists on campus."
To assist first-generation college students and those from low socio-economic areas, UT has a preview program to help students become acquainted with the University before starting in the fall, said Aurora Chang-Ross, a student affairs administrator.
The preview program is the oldest academic enrichment program at UT. The program, which started 20 years ago, has 39 students this summer. The six-week program gives out scholarships to the students that allow them to stay on campus and take two classes.
Goldstone, whose book chronicles UT racial issues from 1950 through 2000, mentioned that she hopes someone else will look into other Texas universities' histories on integration, since many of them dealt with the issue in a similar fashion.
"The Board of Regents were always going back and forth and saying 'We don't want to be Ole Miss,' and that sort of dictated their policies that 'We don't want an embarrassment,'" Goldstone said.
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