5/3/01

David Granger/Roy Summerford

AUBURN TO GRADUATE RECORD CLASS, HONOR FIRST BLACK STUDENT

AUBURN -- Auburn University will award an estimated 2,308 academic degrees at two separate spring semester commencement ceremonies on May 12 at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

Depending on the final numbers, AU's spring 2001 class could be its largest ever, eclipsing the record 2,240 degrees awarded last spring, according to the AU Registrar's office.

Because of the size of the class, Auburn will have two commencement ceremonies -- at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. -- in an effort to more easily and comfortably accommodate family and friends of the graduates.

Students in the colleges of Engineering, Liberal Arts and Sciences and Mathematics and the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences will receive their degrees in the 10 a.m. ceremony. Students in the colleges of Agriculture, Business, Education, Human Sciences and Architecture, Design and Construction and the School of Nursing will receive degrees in the 2 p.m. ceremony.

AU will present an honorary degree to Harold A. Franklin, the first-ever African- American student to attend AU. The honorary degree will complete a 37-year journey for the now-retired educator, whose admission to graduate study at Auburn marked the end of racial segregation of the university.

Franklin was selected for the honor by the AU Board of Trustees at the request of the university's faculty senate, the Auburn Black Student Caucus, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the AU president's office and others.

"There is a wide consensus among Auburn constituencies that Mr. Franklin was a very influential person in Auburn's history, and many people want to recognize him for his courage and the example he set in bringing about the peaceful integration of this university," said Interim AU President William Walker. "Thousands of African-Americans have earned degrees from Auburn since Harold Franklin entered, and all our students have benefitted from the changes that he made possible."

Although the Alabama State University graduate's admission to Auburn under court order was accomplished peacefully, without the rancor that greeted integration of other major Southern institutions in the early 1960s, Franklin was admitted under heavy guard and was kept isolated from other students in campus housing. He sought a master's degree in history and political science but eventually left without graduating and later earned a master's degree in history from the University of Denver. He cited the isolation and a dispute with faculty over his choice of a thesis topic as his reasons for leaving Auburn, but since then he has returned to campus several times for speaking engagements.

Franklin taught and held administrative posts at Alabama State, North Carolina A&T University, Tuskegee University and Talladega College from 1965 until retiring from education in 1992. A Sylacauga resident, he now manages a mortuary in Talladega.

Over the course of his career, Franklin has been cited in Who's Who in Black America, Black Leaders of America, Men of Achievement, Personalities of the South, Community Leaders and Noteworthy Americans, International Who's Who of Intellectuals, International Who's Who in Community Service, Men and Women of Distinction and other publications and honors.

Of the degrees AU will award, 1,965 are bachelor's degrees, 294 are master's degrees, four are doctorates and two are specialists degrees.

AU's College of Business will award the most undergraduate degrees with 500, followed by the College of Liberal Arts with 398 and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering with 294.

The College of Sciences and Mathematics will award 151 undergraduate degrees, College of Architecture, Design and Construction 146, College of Education 138, College of Human Sciences 116, College of Agriculture 113, School of Nursing 64 and the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences 45.

Other activities set for AU's graduation weekend include the Reserve Officers Training Corps commissioning ceremony at Langdon Hall at 6 p.m., on Friday, May 11, and the School of Nursing's pinning ceremony set for 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 12, at Auburn United Methodist Church.

AU's School of Pharmacy and College of Veterinary Medicine routinely hold commencement ceremonies separate from the main ceremonies. Those ceremonies are set for Tuesday, May 8, in the Student Activities Center. The Pharmacy ceremony begins at 1 p.m. and Veterinary Medicine at 6 p.m.

Since its founding as East Alabama Male College in 1856, AU has awarded more than 186,000 academic degrees at its main campus. Combined, AU and Auburn University at Montgomery have awarded more than 210,000 degrees.

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