USU President Connects With Summer Reading Experience

Utah State University President Stan L. Albrecht received a copy of Warriors Don’t Cry” this year’s selection for the Connections program’s summer literature experience. Albrecht, along with countless others, including USU’s newest students, will read the book as part of a common literature experience that culminates in an August convocation lecture. Members of the Cache Valley community are invited to participate as well.Warriors Don’t Cry is the story of nine African-American students who were integrated into Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957. The book is a memoir, written in the voice of one of the students.

 

“The memoir raises issues of equal rights and the value of diversity,” said Noelle Call, director of USU’s Academic Resource Center and the Connections program director. “The book also lends itself to a discussion of personal courage and persistence in the face of obstacles and human reactions in a conflict situation that challenges values systems.”

 

Call presented a copy of the book to Albrecht. She was joined by Marina Hall, public relations coordinator for USU’s department of English, Wally Bloss, director of the Cache Valley Center for the Arts, Gary Straquadine, vice provost for academic and faculty services, and Dani Babbel, a second semester student at USU.

 

Babbel was asked to read this year’s selection and anticipate student reactions.

 

“I found the book emotionally stirring,” Babbel said. “I discovered I wanted to keep reading the book when I should have been doing my homework. It teaches many lessons and I really connected to the book.”

 

Babbel said she felt the book and would make a strong impact on the university-bound readers because it was written in the voice of one of the victims.

 

“This was a shameful part of our country’s history,” she said. “Prejudice is silly, but it exists, even today, but in different ways. Issues of diversity are different here, but the lessons learned from the book can be applied. Differences should be recognized and respected.”

 

Connections is a course specifically designed to ease a student’s transition to university life at USU. The course focuses on developing critical college study skills time-management techniques and understanding the academic environment. It also promotes awareness of the campus community. The summer literature experience is part of the larger Connections program.

 

Warriors Don’t Cry was selected for the 2006 literature experience by a group of faculty, staff and administrators at USU who review books suggested by the campus and community at large, as well as books used by summer reading programs at universities across the country. The committee felt the book was a strong choice because of its potential for stimulating thought and discussion about issues that pertain to both the college experience and to society at large.

 

With that premise in mind, Call is working with the program to encourage community involvement, including participation by local book clubs and groups. She has coordinated contact with Bloss and the Cache Valley Center for the Arts.

 

“We are interested in engaging the community in all the arts, including the literary arts,” he said. “We want to get people talking.”

 

Literature is a great jumping off point and a way to encourage people to talk and share ideas, Call said.

 

The literature experience culminates for Connections students and community members with a convocation lecture by one of the Little Rock Nine — Carlotta Walls LaNier. She speaks Saturday, Aug. 26, at 9:30 a.m. in the Kent Concert Hall of the Chase Fine Arts Center on campus. All are invited.

 

Albrecht said Warriors Don’t Cry is an excellent choice. Straquadine agreed, saying that all readers should relate to the issue of discrimination and social change.

 

For information on the literature experience or the Connections program, contact Call at (435) 797-1194.