1st black student at Clemson to address school

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — The first black man to attend Clemson University is scheduled to help kick off the school’s new academic year. Clemson says Harvey Gantt is to speak Tuesday at a convocation ceremony. The address is timed with the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the integration of Clemson. Chief diversity officer Leon Wiles says there was no better way to kick off a year’s worth of events. Gantt was granted admission to Clemson in 1963 after suing the school. He graduated with honors in 1965 and went on to work for a Charlotte architecture firm. Gantt became Charlotte’s first black mayor in 1983 and unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1996. President Bill Clinton appointed him chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission in 1995.