UNIVERSITY HOUSING PROGRAM WINS NATIONAL AWARD

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark- The National Association of College and University Residence Halls recently named the University of Arkansas University Housing program "Sweet Chariot, A Slave's Journey" Program of the Year for 2002. This is the University of Arkansas' first Program of the Year title.

"Sweet Chariot" is a program that transformed Gibson Hall into a living museum to celebrate the Underground Railroad and the Journey to Freedom. Throughout the building, displays hung from the ceiling that told the story of various participants within the Underground Railroad. A quilt room displayed quilts that signaled safety or danger to passengers of the Underground Railroad, and in a food room students prepared rations consistent to a slave's diet during the mid-1800s.

Gibson Hall staff also assembled a constellation room with glow-in-the-dark stars to outline patterns slaves' used for direction. A panel of faculty members discussed the perils of the journey to freedom, and various students and members of Inspirational Singers performed songs the Underground Railroad used as guidance tools.

Gibson and Holcombe Hall staff members, Kathryn Mahoney of Fayetteville, Dustin Davis of Bedford, Texas, and Henry Wendel of Cabot presented the program, while staff members, hall councils, residents and guests contributed to its excellence.

Mahoney, Davis and Wendel will present "Sweet Chariot, A Slave's Journey" at the Association of College and University Housing Officers - International Conference in Las Vegas this summer.

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