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NAACP to honor
Maxson
By Marten Lewerth
On-line Forty-Niner
The Long Beach
branch of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People will honor Cal State Long Beach President Robert
Maxson with its Education Leadership Award at a downtown banquet
Friday.
Maxson will receive
the award from the NAACP's Freedom Fund Committee during the
22nd annual Freedom Fund Banquet for his advocacy of civil
rights, said Naomi Rainey, CSULB alumna and president of the
group's Long Beach chapter.
"During his
past eight years at Long Beach," she said, "he's
been very active and supportive."
Rainey added that
Maxson has been instrumental in setting up programs at CSULB
that "not only address African American youth, but also
address diversity," thereby supporting the mission statement
and goals of the NAACP.
Maxson's past honors
include being named the 2000 Man of the Year by the National
Conference for Community and Justice and being awarded the
Silver Lily Award by the Easter Seal Society for humanitarian
deeds while president at University of Nevada, Las Vegas during
the late '80s.
"I've always
believed in the principles of the NAACP, so I was greatly
honored when I heard about this," Maxson said. "I
view this recognition not for me personally, but for this
university and what it's done to promote diversity."
He added that he
first became involved in civil rights issues as a graduate
student focusing on education at Mississippi State.
"It was the
late '60s and I had some involvement in the South," Maxson
said, "mostly concerning the integration of the public
schools effort."
Maxson's executive
assistant, Armando Contreras adds:"It's a great recognition
for him. He's someone who, over the years, has shown the ability
to make people feel valued and comfortable."
The NAACP is a
national civil rights organization that has been dealing with
issues like social injustice since its inception by a multiracial
group of activists on Feb. 12, 1909.
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