RASHEED MCWILLIAMS ’99
Alumnus Donates $111,000 To Morehouse For Giving Him A Community Of Intellectuals And Professors Who Challenged Him By D. Aileen Dodd
people from all strata of society, and I wouldn’t stick out in any particular way other than being a smart kid," he added. "I didn’t have to fulfill certain societal expectations on how black males should walk and talk or carry the banner for all black people. I was free to be me." Now, nearly 20 years later, McWilliams, a successful attorney, entrepreneur, and executive, is choosing Morehouse again. He donated $111,00 this academic year to say "thank you" to the college that helped him to forge lifelong friendships, learn more about his gifts as a leader and responsibilities as a man, and challenged him to give back to the community in an impactful way.
When Rasheed McWilliams ’99 was a senior at Passaic High School in New Jersey, he had his pick of top colleges vying for the chance to help him chart his course for the future. “I had a 4.7 grade point average and over $3 million in scholarship offers,” McWilliams said. “I got a full ride to Harvard, Yale, Brown, Virginia Tech and other schools.
But I didn’t want to be just another scholarship kid in the Ivy Leagues.” So, he chose Morehouse College without ever setting foot on campus for a visit. He was impressed by Morehouse’s worldclass reputation and prestigious graduates. “I knew that I would find a peer group and that there would be
“All of us who have the ability or the means, we should support the college and its mission...It is more important now than it has even been in any of our individual lifetimes." He is funding a scholarship in honor of his favorite professor, the late Dr. Morris A. Waugh who taught him organic chemistry. “He would not only teach you chemistry, he would talk to you