Edwin Meek, a former professor and donor at Ole Miss — has been accused of racism after posting photos of black women — one of which was Ole Miss student Mahoghany Jordan — and suggesting their presence at the school causes a decline in “real estate value and school enrollment.”
On Wednesday, September 19, Meek posted pictures on Facebook of two black women, writing “a 3 percent decline in enrollment is nothing compared to what we will see if this continues … and real estate values will plummet as will tax revenues. We all share in the responsibility to protect the values we hold dear that have made Oxford and Ole Miss known nationally.”
One of those pictured women was Mahoghany Jordan, who is studying computer science at the university. Senior biology major Ki’yona Crawford was also pictured.
The school’s Meek School of Journalism is named after Edwin, who is a donor and former professor who served as the university’s assistant vice chancellor for public relations and marketing for 37 years.
Jordan wrote a full response to Meek in a column for The Daily Mississippian:
Ed Meek’s post was not meant for me nor my good friend Kiyona Crawford. We weren’t the ones fighting Alabama fans at a tent in the Grove, we weren’t harassing our LGBTQIA+ counterparts, nor were we the ones fighting in front of bars around the Square. However, somehow for Meek, the blame for the university’s enrollment decline and city’s decline in property value was easier to associate with two women of color as opposed to the particular demographic that has been at the forefront of the school’s most controversial moments by far.
Meek has since apologized for his Facebook post, saying “I apologize to those offended by my post. My intent was to point out we have a problem in The Grove and on the Oxford Square.”
There is currently a petition to have Meek’s name removed from the journalism school, which was named for him after he donated $5.3 million in 2009.
Jordan’s full column can be read here.
