Collegiate Times

It?s the late ?60s. Burruss is packed. Polished and formal, members of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets wait expectantly, their dates by their sides.

Tammy Terrell appears from behind the curtain in a golden dress, followed by Marvin Gaye, and the popular duo of soul music begins its first number. Hats fly through the air, and the crowd goes wild.

This is one of Linda Edmond Turner?s favorite memories from her early years at Tech. Now the president of Urban College in Boston, Turner began her educational career as one of only six black women at the predominantly white male Virginia Tech of 1966, overcoming many obstacles to become one of the social pioneers of the university.

?Looking back, Virginia Tech is a part of my life. There were some really good times, and unfortunately there were some really tough times,? Turner said to a student audience yesterday evening. ?But I love Virginia Tech.?

The Civil Rights Movement brought tremendous and fast change for Turner, even in her undergraduate years.

?I came in in 1966 as a colored farm girl from Virginia,? Turner said. ?By the end of my freshman year, in 1967, I was no longer colored ? I was black.?

Identity politics was not the only change that students in the late 60s saw. From Saturday classes to pay phones at the end of residence hall hallways to the rise in popularity of blue jeans and LSD, Turner described a university climate that many students today would find alien.

For African Americans, this climate had Groove Phi Groove, an unrecognized, all-male black fraternity, at its social center, Turner said.

?Muhammad Ali even came by the Groove Phi Groove house one time,? she said. ?I don?t know why he was on campus, but the brothers had pictures of him up in the house for a long time.?

The event was one of two speaking engagements this semester sponsored by the National Panhellenic Council, Tech?s governing body for traditionally black fraternities and sororities. Although she was never a member of a Greek organization, Turner had a few words to say about such groups.

?I think it?s marvelous because of this: there is a choice,? she said, speaking of the lack of availability of traditionally black Greek organizations during her time with the university.

Turner spent much of her presentation explaining how she came to the university, despite coming from a poor, rural area with no history of a college education in her background.

?Virginia Tech, at that time, was not a part of my reality,? she said of her high school years before getting a scholarship to Tech. ?You look at VT and think, ?That?s a white school.? ?

Turner also had some suggestions for the state of the black community at Tech today.

?I would like for us ? to continue to take some responsibility for what we want to do and not just talk to ourselves,? she said. ?This administration wants to hear what we have to say.?