Robert Khayat, the former chancellor of the University of Mississippi, spoke about his new memoir, “The Education of a Lifetime,” to a crowd of about 25 at Turnrow Books in downtown Greenwood Monday evening.
Khayat, 75, starred in football and baseball at Ole Miss. He had a brief career as the place-kicker with the Washington Redskins of the NFL before attending Yale Law School.
On Monday, Khayat told stories collected in the book, about his time as a student at Ole Miss as well as his stint as chancellor of the school, from 1995 to 2009. His time at the helm was marked by controversy over the school’s Confederate symbols, as well as significant private donations.
Khayat said he orignally arrived at Ole Miss determined to study medicine. After barely passing an introductory chemistry course over the summer with a D-minus, though, Khayat switched to history.
Much of the discussion focused on his time as chancellor of the school. When he was named to the job, Ole Miss was suffering declining enrollment, cuts to state funding and a deteriorating campus.
Khayat said he focused on bolstering the academic programs at the school — through a number of very large private donations — and finally establishing a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the prestigious national honors society.
It was his decision to review the national reputation of Ole Miss and its connection to the Confederate battle flag and other symbols, including Col. Rebel, though, that drew the most national attention.
Khayat said he was swamped with mail from heritage groups adamantly opposed to any decision to remove the flag from campus.
“One writer encouraged me to resign and go somewhere I’d be appreciated, like hell,” Khayat said. Some letters also included threats against Khayat and his family.
Khayat said the controversy raged for nine months and became an “albatross around the neck” of the university. Ultimately, the school decided to ban all sticks — including flag poles — from the stadium and to limit the size of banners and signs.
“Some people wanted to protect the flag because it was ‘the heritage of the South’,” Khayat said, “Well, I asked some of our black students about that being part of their heritage and to the person they said, well, that’s not part of my heritage.”
Khayat said he felt the controversy distracted from much more important work of the school.
“I had trouble understanding how we could be that emotionally paralyzed over a symbol when the work we were doing at the university was so substantive,” Khayat said. “You cannot make a rational argument about anything people are emotional about.”
Khayat also talked about his success in landing huge donations from private individuals for the school. He raised over $100 million to improve the library, found the school’s honors college, raise faculty salaries, landscape the campus and start the school of international relations.
He also fondly remembered early morning walks through the campus and playing guitar with friends’ bands late at night in Oxford. Khayat said he grew up with music from an early age.
He learned to play guitar from a blues musician in Washington. Khayat paid with Redskins tickets for afternoon lessons.
“The Education of a Lifetime” is Khayat’s first book. He said the experience was tough but ultimately rewarding.
“If you’re thinking about (writing a book), I encourage you to do it,” Khayat told the crowd.
“It is remarkably rewarding. It’s real hard to finish. But it’s a nice way of remembering all the wonderful people you met along the way and the extraordinary events that occurred in your life.”
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
