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Sixty years after she was essentially denied admission to what is now Missouri State University, a Springfield resident will be presented with an honorary undergraduate degree at summer commencement in July. KSMU’s Emma Wilson reports.
Mary Jean (Price) Walls was the first black applicant to what was, in 1950, Southwest Missouri State College. By failing to respond to her application the college essentially denied her admission, a decision that came all the way from President Roy Ellis’s office. The current administration recently announced that it will present Mary Walls with an honorary degree at summer commencement. Walls was never able to attend college but they hope that this degree will fulfill part of her dream.Dr. Earle Doman is the Vice President of Student Affairs and the Dean of Students. He was one of the people at Missouri State who brought the idea of an honorary degree before the faculty senate; “It’s part of our history, I don’t think we should, and we haven’t, hidden from it but I think this is a good way to say ‘we’re moving forward and we want to acknowledge things that have occurred and maybe things that should have occurred.’”The proposal still has to jump through a couple of hoops in order to be formally approved by the board of governors. It will be presented to the academic affairs committee at the end of the week. Doman is confident that Walls will be presented with the degree as scheduled. The commencement ceremony will take place at 1 pm on July 30th at the JQH Arena on the Missouri State University campus.
For KSMU News, I’m Emma Wilson