A mural in the lobby of Myers residence hall commemorating the racial integration of the school will be modified after objections from some students over its inclusion of a racial slur.
“Our review involved extensive input from students and other members of the community,” said Rodney Bennett, interim vice president for student affairs, in announcing the decision. “We believe these revisions represent an appropriate compromise among the various interests, which range from concern over the inclusion of a racial slur to concern that removing that word would cloud the true historical impact of those events.”
The revisions involve changing the quote that offended some viewers to a smaller-sized type and utilizing it in specific context from a book by Charlayne Hunter-Gault, one of the first two African-American students to attend UGA.
The wall-sized mural contains photographs and newspaper clippings recounting the events of January 1961 when Hunter-Gault and fellow student Hamilton Holmes first entered UGA under court order.
Hunter-Gault formerly was a CNN bureau chief in Johannesburg, South Africa, and now reports for a variety of media. Holmes, a noted Atlanta physician, died in 1995.
Bennett said the revisions will be accomplished in the next month.