Mississippi Valley State University

A historically black institution of higher education, Mississippi Valley State University was opened in 1950 as Mississippi’s eighth and final public university. Valley can trace its genesis back to 1943 when the Delta Council recommended that the Delta was in “need for expanding its program in the study of race…relations and the maintenance of harmonious understanding between the two races of the Delta.” Consequently, in 1946 the Mississippi Legislature authorized the creation of an institution in the Delta that would “train teachers for the rural and elementary schools and to provide vocational education.”

With the small Leflore County town of Itta Bena and Dr. J.H. White respectively selected as Valley’s future site and first president, what was initially designated as Mississippi Vocational College had its formal groundbreaking on February 19, 1950. While the campus was initially envisioned as beginning with forty buildings, two barns, and a stadium, Valley’s first classes had to be conducted at the old Leflore County High School building in Itta Bena. The first class consisted of just fourteen regular students and seven faculty members.

Established specifically to offer mainly courses in education and vocational training, in 1953, nine of Valley’s first twelve graduating students had degrees in elementary education. At the same time, most of those early Valley students who completed their course of instruction in vocational terminal programs received certificates of completion in the field of agriculture. Nevertheless, by the 1960’s, Valley was expanding its academic courses into such areas as liberal arts, nursing, and business administration.

Once it had finally constructed enough student dormitories to accommodate its growing student population in 1954, it began to phase out both its early bus transportation and extension services in favor of concentrating mainly on its majority residential student population. Insofar as much of this construction was financed through the private donations of such wealthy individuals as Jacob Aron of New York, by 1960, Dr. White was referring to Valley as the “College with a Million Friends.” Two years later, it was allowed to change its name from Mississippi Vocational College to Mississippi Valley State College.

Regrettably, by the late 1960’s, most college campuses were facing major problems as public unrest over continuing social problems and rising racial divisions grew. A black college located in the middle of the Mississippi Delta, Valley could not help but get caught up in this turbulent era. This growing student unrest ultimately culminated in at least two riots in 1968 and 1969 respectively. In the midst of Valley’s growing disturbances, student enrollment dropped dramatically. While White desperately attempted to bolster future enrollment by abandoning all ACT entering requirements in favor of Valley’s former “open door” policy of no requirements altogether, on July 1, 1971, he submitted his resignation in favor of Dr. Earnest A. Boykin. Unfortunately, Valley’s problems only continued to worsen.

While Valley did enjoy official elevation from “college” to “university” status on March 15, 1974, this period presented once again at best a mixed and limited record of actual accomplishment. While future Valley administrator Dr. Roy Hudson subsequently characterized this time as “a growth period for the institution in terms of enrollment, program expansion, and physical plant,” he would go on to note “it was also a period which portended future problems with the university.” With that, he cited a “decline in college student population, stricter admission standards, inflationary costs in education, and internal and external political problems in the late ‘70’s” which he contended “led to a period of declining enrollment and loss of degree programs in the 1980’s.”

During this time, thirty-two new academic programs were nevertheless implemented, including Valley’s current Academic Skills Program which was designed to help disadvantaged students. In recognition of this and other innovations, not only did Valley achieve “university” status in 1974, it was also able to secure reaccreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). By the spring of 1977, campus enrollment even reached a new peak at 3,100. Unfortunately, by the following fall semester, that enrollment had dramatically fallen to just 2,500. This decline was mainly the result of higher admission standards imposed on Valley by the College Board, both with regard to higher A.C.T. scores and tuition. As Valley’s number of students declined accordingly, Dr. Boykin resigned in August 1981, and was subsequently replaced by Dr. Joseph Boyer five months later in January 1982.

Initially, Dr. Boyer’s administration came off to an encouraging start with overall enrollment increasing. At the same time, with the advent of the 1983 – 1986 “Satellite Express,” MVSU athletics gained national attention for the first time. Unfortunately, by the mid-1980’s, Valley was in legitimate fear of closure on two separate occasions in 1984 and 1985 respectively. While unsuccessful, these threats fortunately had an unexpected boomerang effect that worked to the institution’s ultimate overall benefit. As economic problems continued, however, Dr. Boyer resigned in January 1988. Six months later on July 1, 1988, Dr. William H. Sutton became Valley’s fourth president.

             According to Dr. Hudson, the new administration began “[w]ith an operating deficit and declining enrollment facing the institution, the times were most challenging.” Nevertheless, Valley was able to secure reaffirmation by SACS in 1992. Not long afterwards, however, the institution once again faced the genuine threat of extinction ironically resulting from demands arising from the 1975 case of Ayers v. Mississippi, whereby the father of a African-American student attending one of the state’s three predominantly black colleges sued the state claiming official bias in funding in favor of Mississippi’s five predominantly white institutions. Weathering this third and latest effort at official annihilation, by the mid-1990’s, it had begun “the quest to move from the mode of surviving to that of thriving.”

Retiring as president on July 1, 1998, Dr. Sutton was replaced by Dr. Lester C. Newman as Valley’s fifth and current president.  Soon launching Valley on an expansion program which he phrased, “From Excellence to Preeminence,” Dr. Newman took pains to reorganize Valley’s overall curriculum and put other innovations in place in time for Valley’s fifty year anniversary celebration in 2000.

Harvey Hudspeth

J.H. White, Up from a Cotton Patch: J.H. White and the Development of Mississippi Valley State College (1979).