A landmark choice at Waynesburg University
Hold tight, because the nostalgia geyser is about to erupt with full force as the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love arrives.
Commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” are already in full swing, and, in the weeks ahead, we’re sure to see plenty of vintage footage of young, flower-clad, skin-and-bones hippies frolicking in San Francisco. Thurgood Marshall won Senate confirmation as the first African-American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court that summer, and that same body struck a blow against discrimination by ruling that state laws that banned interracial marriage were unconstitutional.
But amid all the tie-dye-soaked reminiscences, it’s useful to remember that progress moves in fits and starts, and not everything was groovy and forward-looking back then. Take, for instance, what Marilyn House West experienced on the Waynesburg College campus.
She graduated from the school in that momentous year, earning a degree in mathematics. While attending Waynesburg, she became the first African-American woman to join a sorority on campus. The national organization of the sorority responded by threatening to nullify the charter of the campus chapter and cut off its funds. Fortunately, the students in that sorority did the right thing all those years ago – rather than submit to the edict, they decided to welcome West into their sorority, cut their ties to the national group and strike out on their own.
In the 50 years since she was a student at Waynesburg, West has thrived. The native of Elizabeth owns and oversees an education and management consulting firm in Richmond, Va., has served on an abundance of boards and panels and has been on Waynesburg University’s board of trustees for the last eight years. Earlier this month, she was able to add another accomplishment to an already accomplished résumé – she became both the first woman and the first African-American to lead the university’s board of trustees.
“It’s all about cultivation and helping others, being a role model,” she told the Observer-Reporter. “Stay focused and always be prepared. Do your very best no matter who you are or what you do. Everyone has a role to play and should play it as best they can.”
That’s good advice for graduates. And for everyone else, too.