Katie Williamson | The Daily Mississippian
Robert Khayat signs his book at Off Square Books in Oxford, Miss. on Tuesday.
Dr. Robert Khayat, former chancellor of the University of Mississippi, is returning to campus this Friday to talk about his recently published novel, “The Education of A Lifetime.”
This September Khayat published his autobiographic novel, “The Education of A Lifetime.” In it the reader will find a chronicle of nearly fifty years of Khayat’s life and much of his time here at Ole Miss. He writes of both the easy and hard times in his life, but focuses mainly on his time as chancellor.
Becoming chancellor in 1996, Khayat remained in this position for fourteen years, until his retirement in 2010. As chancellor Khayat made many changes to the Ole Miss image that proved to be very controversial.
“Most people want progress but very few want change,” Robert Khayat stated. “This is true even if the change is a clear improvement.”
By his retirement many of the symbols that had held the university back, such as Colonel Reb and the Confederate Flag, had been eradicated. “The numbers of minority students has increased dramatically” Curtis Wilkie, Overby Center Fellow and author of “The Fall of The House of Zeus” said. “He basically went out and recruited the kids in the public high schools in Mississippi. I think what he did with race relations is very important. He was a very good steward of the university.”
“In this engaging memoir, he provides and unflinching look at the challenges, the adversity, and the ups and downs of a career that ultimately transformed a great American university,” best-selling novelist and former student of Khayat, John Grisham, said.
This Friday’s conversation at the Overby Center will be centered on Khayat’s life and his work here at Ole Miss. “It won’t be a speech,” Wilkie stated. “He and I will talk for the first part of the program and I’ll be asking questions. At some point we will open it up for the audience to take this opportunity to hear from him and to ask questions of him.”
The event starts at 5:30 in the Overby Center and will be open to the public. This will be an opportunity for students, faculty and alumni “To be able to listen to a man who speaks from the perspective of more than fifty years as a student, as a member of the faculty, and as chancellor at the university,” as Wilkie put it. “He has been a major presence on this campus for so many years and has presided over so much growth that I think it will be a valuable experience for the students.”
