Howard/Morehouse Symposium Brings Prestigious Crowd

The Nation's Football Classic's pregame events started early Thursday with the first annual Presidential Symposium and Forum. The event-- held in Cramton Auditorium-- consisted of four sessions hosted by Morehouse and Howard affiliates as well as scholar, radio host and professor, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and Washington Post sports columnist, Jason Reid, who addressed the stereotypes of the academic, athletic, and character achievements of the black male.

Session one, which launched the long day of scholarly discussion, consisted of a panel that included Dyson, and both Howard president, Dr. Sidney Ribeau, and Morehouse president, Dr. Robert M. Franklin, where they discussed blacks in education in front of a limited audience due to early morning and afternoon classes.

As the day progressed and classes started to let out, the auditorium began to fill in time for the second half of the symposium which became a highly interactive session thanks to presenter, and Morehouse assistant professor of psychology, Dr. Bryant Marks. In using laser pointers that were passed out to the entire audience, he attempted to dismember the myths of black males in society through surveying the audience and comparing their responses to shocking statistics from data he has collected from previous student surveys.

"My goal is to educate the Negro," Marks said. "I want to help people let go of these barriers and myths of what it is to be a black male."

Session three intrigued the audience by including the voices of its peers with Morehouse students, Ryan Boles and Travis Randle, and Howard University student government President Brandon Harris and Vice-President Derrien Hinton coming together on a panel to discuss the higher education experience of the

black males in this country. As members of student government and holding high leadership positions on their respected campuses, the young men addressed a diverse range of topics.

"I walked away understanding the value of attending an HBCU," said transfer radio/TV film major, Michael McGee. "Being a transfer student you hope you made the right transition and from going to the symposium it made me proud because I feel like I made the right decision."

The fourth and final session consisted of a panel discussion on the controversial topic of redefining black male masculinity in athletics, the arts, and academics. The panel was moderated by Morehouse department of psychology director, Dr. David Wall Rice and included film and television director, Seith Mann, Washington Post sports columnist, Jason Reid, actor and author, Isaiah Washington, and Howard University's department of African American studies chair, Dr. Gregory Carr.

On a financial level, Reid stated that professional sports have never been better for black athletes. But he also stated that there are many other areas that they need to improve in.

"Image wise we still have a ways to go," said Reid.

The panel went on to discuss the place of black males in athletics and the many ways in which they are controlled by those in higher positions.

"In many ways black men in the media are still enslaved," said Washington. "I only became an actor to address our image. That's it."

"The speakers were passionate," said McGee. "They really made me look at things in a different perspective. It should have been mandatory for everyone, especially the men of Howard knowing that this country needs more educated black men who are not going to live up the negative stereotypes but

instead are going to become successful."