BY TOMMIEA P. JACKSON
W 16
hen Valerie Rovin Campbell arrived at Jackson State in fall 1970, she had no plans of making history. She did. “I was the first white girl to move into Alexander Hall,” recalls Campbell from her Jackson, Miss., home. Campbell learned of Jackson State while attending a Bahá’í youth conference in Chicago. She’d traveled internationally, but had not been to the South. “It was an interesting time and there was a little animosity there, but I thought of this time as an adventure,” says Campbell, now 60. “I imagine that I was as nervous as anyone would be in a new situation.” During her two-week stay, Dr. Oscar A. Rogers, former Graduate School dean, asked if she was interested in pursuing a master’s degree at Jackson State. “I didn’t think much about it at first,” says Campbell, who is a training and technical assis-
Rovin In 1970, Valerie one of e m ca be l Campbel ents at ud st the first white earned e Sh e. at St n Jackso 1972 in ee gr de a master’s e in 1990. at or ct do a d an
tance specialist for STG International. “But later I got notice that I’d received a national defense loan. I thought, ‘Well this must be what I’m supposed to do.’ ” One of the first white students to enroll at Jackson State, Campbell arrived months after the shooting deaths of Phillip Gibbs and James Green outside Alexander Hall. Campbell’s skin color was only one factor that made her stand out. The California native was accustomed to wearing shorts and sandals, not nylons and heels. “I was always very casual, but everyone down here was very formal,” she says. “That was nice but it wasn’t me.” Campbell’s faith taught her about “the oneness of mankind” and to appreciate racial differences. That belief had led Campbell to join the civil rights movement in California. As an undergraduate student at California State University in Fullerton, Campbell was active in CORE (Congress on Racial Equality) and the Black Student Union. It was while working with the Bahá’í Club at Jackson State that Campbell met her future husband. He is African American. “They were putting together a Bahá’í float, and I was working on an industrial arts float behind the Industrial Arts building,” says Larry Campbell, whose father, Ike Campbell, taught in Jackson State’s Industrial Arts Department. “I just went over and started helping. We got to be friends and quite a while after that we started dating.” The two were married in 1974, one year after Larry Campbell completed his bachelor’s degree in industrial arts. With a master’s degree from JSU, he is now a sergeant with the Jackson Police Department Reserve Unit. “Some female students didn’t like male students visiting me in the dorm,” continues Valerie Campbell. “That was probably the most difficult thing. That was a small minority of the students, but even a minority can make a loud noise. “I know who I am and am not intimidated by people,” says Campbell, who earned two degrees in early childhood education from JSU, a master’s in 1972 and a doctorate in 1990. “Nobody is any better or
Stefania Strunk
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worse than me.” Nearly 40 years after Campbell arrived at Jackson State, Stefania Strunk enrolled as a freshman. Interestingly, the two have similar voices. “Without my faith, I would be scared of what people think,” says Strunk, of Mt. Clemens, Mich. “I would not have the boldness to stand on what I believe. God created everything to be equal.” Strunk, who is white, says her friends questioned her decision to attend an HBCU in Mississippi. Strunk’s dance teacher and high school athletics director were graduates of JSU and encouraged her to learn more about the university. Like Campbell, Strunk’s visit to the South would be an adventure. “I’d never been to Mississippi,” says Strunk, who expects to graduate in 2010. “I knew about racism and other things, but I said, ‘Lord, I’m not scared.’” “As soon as I came to the campus, I fell in love,” says Strunk, an Honors College student and campus president of Fellowship of Christian Athletes. “I’m excited about the possibilities for me here and opportunities for international travel.” Strunk’s entire experience has not been easy, but the occasional negative comment hasn’t changed her love for the school. She’s even considering a run for Miss JSU. “I like to break the mold of things.”