Wednesday, August 29, 2001

Freedom Forum creates new journalism center with $5 million gift

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UNIVERSITY, Miss. — The University of Mississippi (UM) plans to renovate significantly its journalism building and add a center to study southern journalism and politics through a $5 million grant from The Freedom Forum, Chancellor Robert Khayat announced today.

The building and the center will be named for Charles L. Overby, chairman and CEO of The Freedom Forum, who attended Ole Miss from 1964 to 1968 and was editor of the Daily Mississippian. The initial project totals $7.5 million.

"The Center has been created by The Freedom Forum and the University of Mississippi to honor Charles for his outstanding contributions to Ole Miss and the journalism community at large," said Khayat at the official announcement on campus this morning.

Khayat said The Overby Center will be housed in the Department of Journalism. Its location opposite the fabled Grove makes it one of the most visible buildings on campus.

The Overby Center will bring together various aspects of the university's journalism, law and Center for the Study of Southern Culture programs. It will provide opportunities for students, faculty, journalists, government leaders and the public to participate in symposia, workshops and other educational programs, said journalism department chair Dr. Stuart J. Bullion.

"Journalism and politics have made the South distinctive and colorful, for better and for worse," said Overby at the announcement. A member of the university's Alumni Hall of Fame, he has been a leader in supporting the journalism program here since his student days.

"Ole Miss provides the perfect backdrop for studying the past, present and future of relationships between southern journalists and politicians. I am grateful that Robert Khayat and Stuart Bullion have created the right climate for an innovative center that will stress the importance of good journalism. I'm especially appreciative that The Freedom Forum Board of Trustees has recognized Ole Miss as a place for important journalistic leadership in the 21st century," he added.

The Freedom Forum is a nonpartisan, international foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people. The foundation sponsors programs in four areas: the Newseum, the interactive museum of news in Arlington, Va.; First Amendment issues; diversity in newspaper journalism; and world press freedom.

Khayat said that $2.5 million of The Freedom Forum gift will become an endowment to support programs. The remaining $2.5 million is earmarked for facility improvements and will be matched with $2.5 million from university, state and private sources.

Allen H. Neuharth, founder of The Freedom Forum, said the $5 million contribution by the foundation to create the Overby Center "is a fitting tribute to a great journalist. It also provides a unique platform for his alma mater to take the lead role in the study of southern journalism and politics."

Overby was executive editor of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson in 1983 when it was awarded journalism's highest honor — the Pulitzer Prize — for its contribution to passage of the state's historic Education Reform Act. He is a recipient of the Silver Em, UM's highest journalism award, and is a member of the UM foundation board. He and his wife, Andrea Godwin Overby, have three children and live in Nashville, Tenn.

"For The Freedom Forum's trustees, this is the perfect way to honor Charles Overby's contributions to journalism, especially in Mississippi and the South," said Freedom Forum trustee and finance committee chairman Malcolm R. Kirschenbaum. " The Overby Center brings a new and important dimension to the good work already ongoing at Ole Miss on southern culture and issues."

Today's announcement was attended by Overby and his wife, Bill Hunsberger, publisher of The Clarion-Ledger, and his wife Melanie, former Gov. William F. Winter, and Bullion, chair of the UM journalism department, along with a crowd of other university officials, students, faculty and friends.

"Our students, faculty, staff and alumni are full of pride and gratitude today. Charles Overby is a stellar example to us all, and we are pleased to be associated with the center that will bear his name and serve both the academy and the press," said Bullion. "In honoring an outstanding alumnus, the Freedom Forum joins Ole Miss Journalism in building on our traditions of excellence, which Charles embodies so well. Our future has never been so full of promise."