Activist Ousted From Vanderbilt Is Back, as a Teacher

Activist Ousted From Vanderbilt Is Back, as a Teacher


The Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., a civil rights leader who was expelled from Vanderbilt University in 1960, is now a visiting professor there.

By THEO EMERY
Published: October 4, 2006

NASHVILLE — Just before 6 p.m. on a recent evening, students began to fill a lecture hall at Vanderbilt University. Some pressed cellphones to their ears, others sipped cups of coffee. Flip-flops scuffed the carpet as the students shed book bags and opened laptops.

A typical class, perhaps — until the teacher with the shock of white hair rose from the table at the front of the hall, greeted the students and asked a question: “How many of you have experienced a hate crime against yourself? Let’s see the hands.”

So began the lecture by the Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., 78, who returned to teach at Vanderbilt this fall, 46 years after the university expelled him for his role in lunch-counter sit-ins that made Nashville a springboard for a generation of civil rights activists.

The expulsion of Mr. Lawson, a Methodist divinity student who was one of the nation’s leading scholars of civil disobedience and Gandhian nonviolence, was quickly dubbed the Lawson affair, and tarnished Vanderbilt’s reputation for years. University officials apologized to Mr. Lawson long ago, honoring him and inviting him back for periodic lectures. Even Harvie Branscomb, the chancellor who presided over Mr. Lawson’s ouster, apologized before his death.

(snip)

During the evening lecture, he tucked his hands in his trouser pockets and jingled loose change as he paced in front of the class. He sprinkled his comments with references to the Bible and Gandhi as the students discussed hate crimes, role-played confrontations between strangers, and saw a movie about the antiapartheid movement in South Africa.

Continued @ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/education/04lawson.html