“One of the things I’m most proud of,” Lott said, “is that one day (after my election) Mr. Meredith said to me, ‘I chose Ole Miss, but Ole Miss chose you.’ But Ole Miss wouldn’t have been in a position to choose me if it weren’t for the sacrifice of so many brave individuals who’d come before me.”
Lott explained that even in the midst of the media frenzy that overtook Oxford following his historic election, he did not fully grasp the impact his presidency would have until former Dean of Students Sparky Reardon pulled him into his office to explain what it meant for the Ole Miss community.
“He told me, ‘I don’t know if you know how significant this is.’” Lott said. And I was a young guy, so I couldn’t fully appreciate (the impact) then. But over time, I have come to fully understand it.”
Robert Khayat, who was the Ole Miss chancellor from 1995 – 2009, told the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning during his hiring interview that his intention was to make Ole Miss one of the premier public universities in the country. To do this, he sought after the highest quality students, white or black, as well as attracting African American professors, head coaches, and administrators.
It was only a matter of time before an African American student would lead the student body, Khayat said, but it took the right student to overcome years of history to make it happen.
“It’s a natural thing for black students to be elected to leadership positions, like president of ASB (Associated Student Body),” Khayat said. “I just expected it. I mean, Nic is such a wonderful man. He was mature and magnanimous, he did a good job and faculty, staff, students and alumni liked him.”
Twenty years later, Lott and Khayat remain friends and talk regularly. And in 2001, Clarence Webster III became the second consecutive African American ASB president, confirming to Lott that he had broken the barrier for black leaders on the Ole Miss campus.
“I stood on the shoulders of those who came before me,” Lott said. “I knew I was first when I was elected, but I certainly knew that I would not be the only (African American ASB president).”
The power of his campaign, Lott said, was its ability to transcend the divisions on campus and rally support from a wide variety of groups. Lott, although then-president of College Republicans, garnered support from leaders within College Democrats, UM Pride Network, Black Student Union and the International Student Organization.
“We had a campaign of inclusion,” Lott said. “We received a lot of support from people from different backgrounds and walks of life. We were showing to the world what Ole Miss was and what it had fought to become.”
Ole Miss students elected Joshua Mannery as the sixth African American ASB president on April 7. When the numbers are put into perspective, Mannery believes progress has been made at Ole Miss.
“It’s safe to say that this university has taken a lot of hard looks at its history,” Mannery said. “Six isn’t the most in the scheme of things, especially out of 124 (ASB presidents), but six out of 20 is really good.”
Ole Miss’s six student body presidents have allowed it to outpace other universities in electing black leaders. The University of Alabama elected only its second black president in 2015, 39 years after the first. American University’s first African American president served in 2017 and was awarded $725,000 in a 2019 lawsuit because of racist targeting against her. And Yale’s first African American student body president was elected only last year.
Mannery cited the recent success of African American students at Ole Miss, including the crowning of Carl Tart as the first-ever Homecoming King and Arielle Hudson becoming the university’s first African American female Rhodes Scholar, in addition to his election.
“I’m proud to be an example of the fact that this university continues to outdo itself and promote representation across the board,” Mannery said.
Lott and Mannery have been in touch in the weeks since Mannery’s election, and Lott has offered the incoming president lots of advice about how to take on the job.
“I’m excited for him,” Lott said. “I told Josh that I learned a lot about leadership and about people. He will be presented with a lot of challenges, but what I found in the challenges I faced, I made those challenges opportunities.”
Mannery, who is unusual for an Ole Miss ASB president not only because of his race, but also because he is not involved with Greek life nor has prior ASB experience, made themes of inclusion and equity important parts of his campaign. He wants to open ASB to students who do not normally get such opportunities.
“This campus is inclusive, and opportunities are open to everybody,” Mannery said. “But there’s a lack of accessibility that I think we need to address, and I plan on addressing it.”
A way that representation has lacked is the role of African American women in ASB. Of the six African American ASB presidents, Kimbrely Dandridge served as the only black female president from 2012 – 2013.
“I think there are a lot of factors to explain that,” Dandridge said. “For African American women especially, it’s hard to put yourself out there, because we already have so many pressures that come at us.”
Ole Miss has made a lot of progress, Dandridge agreed, but it is not yet where it needs to be. She recalled an incident after her election, when someone on the Square called her the “n-word president.”
“We have such a long way to go.” Dandridge said. “Race and gender still matter to some people, and I don’t think it should. We should be further along, but the reality is that we’re not.”
As the first African American female ASB president, Dandridge does not see herself as a barrier-breaker, but she is concerned with trailblazing a path for those who come after her.
“The thing about being the first is that, you can’t worry about being the first. It’s about the folks that are coming after you. I see myself as paving the way for African American females who come after me,” Dandridge said.
Former Chancellor Khayat is proud of the progress made by the university not only since his time as a student, before Meredith’s historic enrollment, but also of the progress that his administration was able to make. But changing the perception of a nation is no easy task.
“The reason we wanted to (host) the presidential debate in 2008 was so the nation could see Ole Miss today,” Khayat said. “Ole Miss today is not the Ole Miss of 1962 or ’82. Ole Miss today is a comprehensive, very fine public university in the Deep South.”
Khayat pines for a time when the race of a new ASB president is unimportant, and the election of a black student is just another election.
“Sooner or later, you come to expect it. When a black student is elected president of the student body at the University of Kansas or at Michigan, nobody says ‘it’s the sixth black president.’ I don’t think we ought to stop every time a black person achieves something and make note of their race. It’s been 58 years since 1962. How long does it take?”