With great regret, the family of Ms. Ruth Campbell Stewart announces the passing.  She was born October 20, 1916, in Savannah, Georgia.  She was preceded in death by her parents,  and her brother. She is survived by her sister, Saramae Richardson, niece, Yvonne Richardson James, great-nieces Sara James and Paige James and nephew James Stewart, Jr.   She has cousins and many life-long friends.

Her family, former students, and friends will gather Saturday, April 21, 2018, to celebrate

 her life. While she was a member of Salem Lutheran Church, the Funeral service will be celebrated on Saturday, April 21, 2018, at 11:00 am in the sanctuary of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.  The eulogist will be the founding pastor emeritus, Dr. William A   Lawson. The viewing will be from 10:00 am, an hour before the funeral service which will begin promptly at 11:00 am. After the service, the motorcade will pass by the Stewart-Rollins Music Building, for a salute by the Ocean of Soul Marching Band, as well as other music students. The public is welcome to be part of the salute. The Interment will be at Houston Memorial Gardens Cemetery, 2426 Cullen, Pearland, TX 77581.

On March 1954, Ms. Stewart arrived to teach voice and become the director of the Women’s Glee Club at Texas State University for Negroes (later to become Texas Southern University). During her 29-year tenure at Texas Southern University, she co-produced several operas, including “Cavalleria Rusticana,” “Madama Butterfly,” “La Boheme,” “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” “The King and I,” “Requiem” (Verdi), and “Messiah” (Handel).

Ms. Stewart entered Columbia University the fall of 1943, studying voice with the late Dr. Robert Wilson. She also enrolled in applied piano sight singing, theory and the History of Music. In May 1949 she auditioned and won a pivotal role in the premiere production of “Troubled Island” by William Grant Hill, presented at City Opera, New York City.   In 1951 she was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study at St. Cecelia Conservatory Rome Italy with Maestro Maria Pediconi.

She was voted Regional Governor of the National Association of Teachers of Singing “NATS” including Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, for two years.  After her first term, she was voted to continue to lead the organization by acclamation.  She also organized with the help of the late Clifford Smith, a Men’s Group – called “The Men of Houston, consisting of 28 men from all walks of life, with one goal in mind – to sing.  During a seven-year tenure, the group gave many concerts, performed on many programs and on television.

Ms. Stewart has many students who have had successful careers in teaching and performing. Among those who have achieved success are Faye Robinson, internationally acclaimed soprano; Gloria Harrison-Quinlan, soprano; the late Lionel Stubblefield, tenor, and April Sloan-Hubert, Houston’s premier soprano. Ruth Stewart retired on May 31, 1983. The modern facility, which now houses the Music Department, has been designated as the Rollins-Stewart Music Building in honor of her tenure. ,

Special thanks to McCoy & Harrison Funeral Home, 4918 MLK, Houston, TX 77021, 713.659.7618

Jackson Lee: “Secretary Tillerson never had the full confidence of the president he serves, and the president never quite had full confidence in Secretary Tillerson.”

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a senior member of both the House Committees on Judiciary and Homeland Security, released the following statement in response to the president’s firing of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, and the announcement of his intention to nominate Michael Pompeo, the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, as his next Secretary of State, and of Gina Haspel, to fill Mr. Pompeo’s position, should both be confirmed by the United States Senate.

“The revolving door at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue continues to turn.  This time the person ousted is Rex Tillerson, our country’s 69th Secretary of State.  Since its beginning, this administration has been plagued by a failure of management as well as a suspicious appeasement towards Russia.  In his last hours as this country’s top diplomat, these two trends appear to have converged yet again.

More than anything the timing of Mr. Tillerson’s firing is deeply troubling.  On Monday afternoon Theresa May, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, our nation’s closest ally, took to the House of Commons to attribute to the Russian Federation, the poisoning of a former Russian spy on British soil.  Secretary Tillerson echoed Prime Minister May and also blamed the Russians.  Hours later, President Trump fired Secretary Tillerson from his post.  The president’s decision to fire Secretary Tillerson after he stood in solidarity with the leader of our closest ally is confounding.   The United States must stand tall with Great Britain as it explores whether, in response to this attack, to invoke NATO’s Article 5 assurance of collective defense.

Secretary Tillerson’s firing also comes after the administration announced, with much fanfare, that it was convening a summit between the President of the United States and the leader of North Korea, scheduled for May 2018.  Mr. Trump’s firing of Secretary Tillerson leaves open the very real prospect that for this critical bilateral summit, the United States will be without the counsel of its top diplomat.

“Also, it is not clear that Secretary Tillerson ever had the full confidence of the president he serves, and the president never quite had full confidence in Secretary of State Tillerson.  Whether it was Secretary Tillerson’s considered judgment that the United States should remain part of the Paris Climate Accord, abide by the Iran Nuclear deal, or minimize the bellicose rhetoric directed towards North Korea, Secretary Tillerson’s reasonable views always seemed out of place in this White House, and were frequently disparaged in a Trump tweet.

“For an administration that promised to hire the best people, we have seen very little evidence of this in action.  Instead, we have seen cabinet secretaries feeding at the trough; a White House staff rife with unprofessionalism; and personnel decisions designed to cover-up the president’s associations with and connections to Russia.  I encourage the United States Senate to conduct a fulsome and searching inquiry into Secretary of State-Designee Pompeo and Central Intelligence Director-Designee Haspel.

Rex Tillerson has had a long career, many years of which he spent as CEO of ExxonMobil, based in Houston.  I thank him for his service to this country and I wish him and his wife, Renda, well in their future endeavors.

The world-renowned Debate Team at Texas Southern University won the inaugural HBCU National Speech and Debate Championship Tournament on January 28 at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. The three-day competition featured teams from 22 historically Black colleges and universities from across the country.

TSU’s debaters had earned enough points at the end of the competition to receive the National Overall Sweepstakes Championship trophy. The team also picked up trophies for Debate Team and Individual Events sweepstakes, first place in both Impromptu Speaking and Slam Poetry, second place in Impromptu Speaking and third place in Programmed Oral Interpretation. TSU collected 20 awards in multiple categories.

The TSU Debate Team is preparing for an international competition in Montreal, Quebec in March. Dr. Gloria Batiste-Roberts is the head coach of TSU’s Debate Team, along with assistant coaches Wendell King II and Sondera Malry, and graduate assistants Shekia Rogers and Okwildilli Onyekawelu. Antréchelle Dorsey is president of the Debate Team. Dr. Thomas F. Freeman, 96, is in his 68^th year at Texas Southern and continues to work with the team. TSU debaters have garnered several international titles during the team’s existence.

TSU’s rich history in debating dates back to 1949 under the leadership of Dr. Freeman, professor emeritus and Debate Team head coach. Dr. Freeman and former Wiley College debate team coach, the late Melvin Tolson, were inducted into the HBCU Debate League Debate Hall of Fame at the event.

The tournament concluded with Dr. Haywood L. Strickland, president of Wiley College, conferring an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters to legendary actor Denzel Washington. Washington brought attention to African-American debaters in the film The Great Debaters.

The following HBCUs participated in the competition: Bethune-Cookman, Fisk, Hampton, Howard, Huston-Tillotson, Jackson State, Jarvis Christian, Lawson State, North Carolina AT&T, North Carolina Central, Paul Quinn, Philander Smith, Prairie View A&M, Rust, Southwestern Christian, Talladega, Tennessee State, Texas College, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Wiley and Xavier of Louisiana.

The TSU Debate Team is open for membership to any undergraduate student anytime during the semester without regard to previous training or experience. Meetings are held every Wednesday at 7 p.m. and workshops are held every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Paige Education Building – Suite 112. Students are invited to visit and consult with the team’s coaches on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Texas Southern University has announced that former Texas Southern University Regent Gary Bledsoe will assume the role of interim dean at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Bledsoe will lead the law school through its American Bar Association compliance requirements. Bledsoe will assume his new position November 1.

“We are very fortunate to have Gary Bledsoe assume the role of interim dean,” said TSU President Austin A. Lane. “I am looking forward to working with Dean Bledsoe and his new team to advance the storied mission of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law.”

Attorney Bledsoe specializes in public interest law, employment and civil rights law. He is president of the Texas NAACP and has held that position since being elected in 1991. He has a longstanding relationship with the NAACP as a member of its National Board since 2003 and is chair of the National Criminal Justice Committee of the NAACP. He earned his bachelor’s and juris doctorate degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.

Bledsoe has received lawyer of the year awards from the Texas Attorney General, the Travis County Bar Association, the national and Austin chapters of the NAACP, and the Austin Area Urban League. He is a member of the Houston Hall of Fame at Riverside General Hospital. He has earned an AV rating from the prestigious legal publicationMartindale-Hubbell, the second-highest rating available for lawyers. His work with the NAACP included handling racial discrimination complaints against the Austin Department of Public Safety that resulted in people of color being admitted into the Texas Rangers and system-wide changes in the Austin Police Department surrounding the handling of police abuse cases. Bledsoe negotiated a program with HEB that provides $25,000 in scholarships for students at Texas Southern, Prairie View A&M and Huston-Tillotson universities.

Professor Marcia Johnson will serve as Special Assistant to the Dean and will assist acting Dean Bledsoe in the transition. Professor Johnson has been serving TMSL as co-founder and director of the new Urban Research and Resource Center, an interdisciplinary collaboration with TSU’s School of Public Affairs, and was a former interim dean of the law school. Professor Cassandra Hill will assist both Bledsoe and Professor Johnson in the administration of the law school.