Gloria L. Taylor, former executive staff assistant to the legendary late Dr. Marguerite Ross Barnett and founder/CEO of Community Women Against Hardship, has this to say to the UMSL Chancellor Tom George:
“Most African-American natives of St. Louis remember the opening of the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. We remember the many challenges to make sure that this urban campus would meet the needs of Missouri’s minority communities. When we forget, the efforts by the UMSL administrators to actively recruit minority students, faculty and administrators are recalled every year at the chancellor’s address to the community. When UMSL hired an African-American chancellor, many of us celebrated this achievement as a turning point for both minorities and women. While Chancellor Ross-Barnett’s administration was much too short for some of us, she did some amazing things. She clearly understood the need to have minority presence on an urban campus, and went about making sure this would become a reality. The Minority Opportunity Hires initiative, funded by our legislators, enabled a number of important faculty hires for UMSL. This initiative continues to be a cornerstone of UMSL’s ability to hire talented minority faculty. Chancellor Blanche Touhill followed for the next 12 years, and continued many of her predecessor’s minority initiatives. Touhill also understood the need to have community validation of her efforts to lead the campus into the future. UMSL now has a new chancellor and we are waiting, somewhat anxiously, to see what he has planned for minority development at UMSL. Some of us are particularly concerned by the lack of minority representation within his policy-making cabinet. Tom George, who we all know well is a jazz pianist of some skill, has to show us what tune he plans to play to ensure our active participation as students, faculty, staff and administrators at the University of Missouri’s only urban campus.”