Students react to controversy surrounding Madison campus

Special to the Blue & White Flash

Jackson State University recently announced its plan to open a campus at an office building located at 382 Galeria Parkway in Madison.

The new location, according to JSU communications director Eric Stringfellow, allows greater potential to increase enrollment of students who are not African-American, thus allowing the university to come closer to enrolling 10 percent “other races” to comply with a legal settlement.

JSU students were both excited and concerned about the expansion.

“I think that expansion of the university will be a great benefit to students because it will enhance the recruitment of the university,” said Devon Anderson, a sophomore speech major from Utica, Miss.

Jonathan Jones, a criminal justice major from Jackson, Miss. said, “I think that it’s great that an HBCU such as Jackson State University is expanding into a predominately white area to boost the non-black enrollment.”

Kenny Demouchet, a senior mass communications major from New Orleans, La., said, “I think the idea is great but I believe the residents in Madison will have concerns about the expansion, I believe race plays a huge factor.”

According to an Associated Press article, the city of Madison and Tulane University officials have expressed concerns about the expansion and want the state College Board to rescind what they’re calling the “premature” approval of Jackson State University’s plans to open a Madison campus this summer.

Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler said the city wants to make sure that Jackson State will not be competing for students with Tulane, which opened a Madison branch in 2010.

On Jan. 17, the College Board approved a 10-year, $1.5 million lease for 8,600 square feet in an office building in Madison for Jackson State to hold classes. JSU President Carolyn Meyers said Monday that the university’s move to open a branch in Madison is designed to make its classes more convenient for nontraditional students who live and work in the area.

The report also states that Meyers did not realize that the expansion plan was a problem after her discussion with Hawkins-Butler.

“It was mentioned, but I told her, or I pointed out to her and she agreed that the educational needs of the state of Mississippi are so great that we both can thrive,” Meyers said. “We thought we had dotted our I’s and crossed the T’s and that’s why we had been trying to meet with her for quite a while and we had no concerns that she had any concerns.”

In a letter to the College, Madison and Tulane officials said state law requires the board to consider ongoing programs of private colleges before authorizing off-campus programs for state universities, the letter said. The statute requires that the board avoid “inefficient and needless duplication.”

“The process and the law have both been disregarded in this case,” the letter said.

JSU Provost James Renick said that the university does not need further permission from the College Board beyond the lease because “all the programs are already offered” on the Jackson campus.

Alexis Anderson and Crystal Killingsworth contributed to the story.