Spring Break
Johns Hopkins alumnus and Republican Party chairman Michael Steele talks to a group of high school students about his expulsion from Hopkins.
Photo: C-SPAN
LOS ANGELES — Michael Steele has gained a lot of attention early in his tenure as chairman of the Republican National Committee. He has said he wanted to bring hip-hop to the Republican Party, embarrassingly apologized to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and struggled to rebuild his party after electoral defeat.
However, speaking to high school students, Steele struck a serious tone and talked about his experience as an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins. The event was part of C-SPAN’s “Students & Leaders” program that gathered several notable Washington professionals to talk to students about their careers, education, and life story.
Steele graduate from Hopkins but not without obstacle. His freshman experience may not have been different from many of ours. (without the expulsion)
“I partied my behind off,” Steele said. “I heard there were classes, and some people told me I really should go. But I was having a good time. I was freshman class president. I knew most of my classmates by the end of my first week of school. I just networked the heck out of that bad boy. I was getting there. I was talking. I was grooving. I was having a ball.”
At the end of his freshman year, Steele received a letter from the university.
“You have failed to perform to the standards of the university and therefore you are invited not to return in the fall,” the letter said.
Steele’s single-mother told him that he would return in September but didn’t say how.
The young Michael Steele met with a University Dean who told Steele he was lazy, inattentive and showed no talent to show intellect. He suggested Steele go to another school because he was “not Hopkins material.”
The Dean scolded Steele further.
“You haven’t shown you can do this or have the desire to do this. You act like you don’t even want this. Your Mama’s threatened you but you haven’t threatened yourself to do this.”
Steele was allowed to come back to Hopkins under one condition. The dean required him to take four four-credit summer school courses at a local university and get an A in each.
The moral of his expulsion, the party chairman told the students, is perseverance. And, “recognizing you have the potential within yourself to achieve whatever it is you want to achieve. Sometimes you just got to push yourself to realize it.”
You can watch the full event Monday, May 25 on C-SPAN at 7 p.m. eastern. The clip of Steele talking about his Hopkins expulsion is HERE
–Michael Szeto
blogs.jhunewsletter.com
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