Joseph Vaughn Day 2024 remarks by President Elizabeth Davis

Joseph Vaughn Day 2024 >>

Furman University President Elizabeth Davis

Daniel Chapel, Furman University

Jan. 26, 2024

Good afternoon. Thank you for braving the weather to be here. We’ve had so much rain lately, we’re thinking of giving the Paladin a boat instead of a horse. We are fortunate to have this beautiful chapel where we can all come together.

Joseph Vaughn Day has quickly become a special occasion for our Furman community. With respect for the past and hope for the future, this day shines a light no weather could dampen, and I always enjoy talking about Joe Vaughn. It was 59 years ago that he enrolled at Furman and walked across campus, the first, and only, Black undergraduate.

Joe was a model Furman student, engaged in academics, active in student life, a leader in social causes in the community. He was outgoing, likeable, and dedicated, to his studies and to change. He encouraged his friends Lillian Brock Fleming and Sarah Reese to come here. Joe changed Furman forever. Flip through the pages of the year books when Joe was here, and you’ll see his smiling face leading cheers and acting in plays.

It’s easy now to imagine Joe Vaughn on our campus. What takes some effort is to imagine the campus from Joe’s eyes. From the perspective of the only Black man on campus. If the world looked welcoming through the eyes of a typical Furman student in 1965, how did it look through the eyes of a Black man? He undoubtedly encountered challenges we could not have recognized or understood. As some have said to me, Joe, like many Black people, too often “had to go along to get along,” keeping his struggles to himself. Joseph Vaughn Day reminds us to never again let that saying describe the norm.

At convocation we announced a new initiative, On Discourse, for the very purpose of hearing multiple perspectives on issues. We want people to be heard, and we want to hear them with curiosity, not judgement, so that students like Joe can share their thoughts about the world, their struggles and their dreams. I think he would appreciate that, in our university values, we pledge that we will advocate for a wide variety of backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs. We will aspire to advance thriving communities that honor inquiry, promote diversity, strive for equity, appreciate beauty, and act as responsible stewards of our planet. We will aspire. We reach, and sometimes we will fall short, but we will never stop reaching.