Mercer University and its President R. C.Harris

Rufus Carrollton Harris 1960-1979

• Educator (1897-1982); A.B., LL.B., Juris.D., LL.D., Litt.D., D.C.L., L.H.D. degrees; married to Mary Louise Walker (1918)
• Served as dean of the university's law school from 1923-1927, prior to returning as president for nineteen years
• Led Mercer to become one of the few private colleges in the South to admit qualified students without regard to race, before being required to do so by the 1964 Civil Rights Act
• Gave firm positive leadership to the university on the decision of accepting federal grants
• Constructed the Stetson Library and the Willet Science Center
• Merged Atlanta Baptist College into the university in 1972
• Laid the groundwork for the Mercer School of Medicine
• Moved the School of Law in 1978 from the main campus to its new home, the former Insurance Company of North America building on Coleman Hill in downtown Macon
• Provided leadership in national and international organizations and foundations, and published writings on numerous legal and educational topics in many professional journals

Letter from RCH to an alumnus who opposed the integration of the university, November 6, 1962:

"I think any institution that receives tax exemptions, a public charter to operate and other public support is public enough to bring it within the Constitutional prohibition against racial educational discrimination. Besides, as a Christian, there is a matter of conscience involved, I think, in the seemingly un-Christian act of drawing a color line in education."

Medals presented to RCH:

Medal of Excellence, Mercer University
Order of the British Empire, Queen Elizabeth the Second of the United Kingdom, August 18, 1969
French Legion of Honor, Republic of France, October 10, 1953