Lipscomb University President Issues An Apology After Inviting African American Students To A Dinner Decorated With Cotton Stalk Centerpieces

Randy Lowry, the president of #LipscombUniversity in Nashville, Tennessee has issued an apology after he invited African-American students to his home for a soul food dinner complete with cotton stalk centerpieces. A student named Nakayla who attends the school recounted details of that night on her Instagram and explained what allegedly happened when Latino students were invited the night before.

“As we arrived to the president’s home and proceeded to go in we seen cotton as the center pieces. We also stood and ate dinner, there were no seats to sit in and it felt very uncomfortable,” she said. “We were very offended, and also the meals that were provided resembled many “black meals” they had mac n cheese, collard greens, corn bread etc. The night before, Latinos also had dinner at his house and they had tacos. They also didn’t have the center piece that we had tonight.”

She went in to say that Lowry seemed a bit aloof about the centerpieces when he was asked why they were there in the first place. “He finally got to our table and my friend asked why there was cotton on the table as the center piece. His response was that he didn’t know,” Nakayla said. “He kind of thought it was “Fall-ish”, then he said, “It isn’t inherently bad if we’re all wearing it” then walked off.”

So I attend Lipscomb university and as most of you know that is a predominately white school. Tonight AFRICAN AMERICAN students were invited to have dinner with the president of the school. As we arrived to the president's home and proceeded to go in we seen cotton as the center pieces. We also stood and ate dinner, there were no seats to sit in and it felt very uncomfortable. We were very offended, and also the meals that were provided resembled many "black meals" they had mac n cheese, collard greens, corn bread etc. The night before Latinos also had dinner at his house and they had tacos. They also DIDN'T have the center piece that we HAD tonight. A couple of minutes went by, the president was coming around and asking for our names and what our major was. He finally got to our table and my friend @kay_cyann asked why there was cotton on the table as the center piece. His response was that he didn't know, he seen it before we did, he kind of thought it was " fallish", THEN he said " it ISNT INHERENTLY BAD IF WERE ALL WEARING IT " then walked off. Later on all of us that were there were invited into the home, and we had the impression that we were coming to speak about how us as Black people feel about Lipscomb. The whole entire time we were in their home they only talked about themselves( how they met, got married and ended up at lipscomb) & the ONLY question that we were asked was our transformation coming to lipscomb. A couple of women answered the question but they sugar coated it. They said any other questions that we may have can be emailed to the advocate for the Latinos and that a second meeting may be held. Also we don't have an advocate on campus, the only African American advocate we had, no longer works here. The only advocate available to us is the advocate for the Latinos. They claim to have funding for minorities, BUT you have to live up to the expectations of a typical Black family to even get the 1000$.There is NO FUNDING for just us black students. #share

A post shared by Nakayla Pinkston???????????? (@nakaylayvonne) on Sep 14, 2017 at 10:32pm PDT

As you can imagine, this story along with Nakayla’s images have caused an outrage prompting Lowry to issue an apology. Check it out below:

TSR STAFF: Talia O. @theclosetratchet on IG, @tallyohhh on Twitter