FSU History is Black History: When Chancellors Met Presidents
posted by Troy Hobbs III | February 27, 2024 | In NewsFebruary 19 was Presidents Day. However, did you know that some of Fayetteville State University’s chancellors met and had friendships with some of the presidents of the United States?
President Jimmy Carter, who held office as the 39th president from 1977 to 1981, met FSU’s first Chancellor, Dr. Charles A. Lyons. The two met on August 18, 1978, as Dr. Lyons was the president of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education. The two of them talked about being able to preserve the quality of HBCUs.
Then-Governor Bill Clinton, the 42nd president from 1993 to 2001, met FSU’s second Chancellor, Dr. Lloyd V. Hackley. The two of them had a good friendship. They were both from Arkansas, where Clinton had served as Governor. Former President Clinton was active in support of Hackley’s term as chancellor and served as guest speaker for Chancellor Hackley’s installation as chancellor for FSU on April 8, 1989.
44th President Barack Obama, who held office from 2009 to 2017, also visited our university in the same semester as former President Bill Clinton in 2016, both campaigning for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy. More recently, the 11th Chancellor of FSU, Dr. James A. Anderson, and other administrative heads of HBCUs around the country, met with the 45th President, Donald Trump, who held office from 2017 to 2021.
Fayetteville State’s Archives at Chesnutt Library has numerous other historical items from our first and second chancellors and artifacts related to FSU becoming a university to its founding in 1867.
To learn more about Fayetteville State’s Archives, please get in touch with Ms. Nicholle Young at nyoung@uncfsu.edu or visit the Archives on the fourth floor of Chesnutt Library.
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