For nineteen months after the passage of the Martin Bill, business ran smoothly

on the grounds of the new Industrial Institute and College (I.I.&C.). Built upon

the former premises of the Columbus Female Institute in Columbus, Mississippi,

I.I.&C. was quickly on its way toward accepting its first students. During the

months from March 1884, to October 1885, Peyton personally handpicked staff,

even maintaining monthly contact with Richard Watson Jones, the school's first

president.1 Additionally, Peyton saw to the improvement and expansion of some

of the preexisting buildings as well as the construction of a new administration

building.2 Finally, on October 22, 1885, the doors to the college officially

opened and classes began.

 

For the next several months business ran smoothly for the new school, and

on February 28, 1886, Peyton got word that the House and Senate had

agreed with the Appropriations Committee to give the school $65,000.3

And in 1886, members of I.I.&C called for the organization of the Peyton

Literacy Society, in honor of Peyton's "great name and the good she has done to the daughters of Mississippi."4

 

It was not until 1888 that things took a turn for the worse. First, a movement was started by students to have a woman president. This was ultimately shut down by the Board of Trustees in September of 1888, as the board decided to change school policy and demanded that "no one but a man should be president."5 It is understood the reasons behind the policy change were in response to the still patriarchal society. This is deduced by the hiring of the new president Charles Hartwell Cocke, "who immediately reduced the liberal arts requirements for all

programs" as to lower the standards for female college degrees.6 Tension between students and faculty steadily rose and, in November of that year, students asked for the removal of a faculty member. Again, the girls were denied their request.

 

Then, two years later, in 1890, the students petitioned for the resignation of President Cocke. In a petition entitled "Two Hundred," students cited the president as having “mistreated faculty members" and being "incompetent and qualified" for the position as he had still not gained a college degree of his own and continually tried to degrade the level of education that the students were trying to receive.7 The young women wanted a "high standard State college, and [were] not willing to stand by and see their school degenerate into a mere sham."8  Soon after the petition was drafted, the students' pleas were condemned by Columbus residents and I.I. & C. faculty and many of teachers came to President Cocke's defense, refusing to look at or sign the petition.

The school was officially fractured between the students and staff, and the future of the school looked bleak. The faculty and many of the residents of Columbus felt as if educating the women was enough and disgracing a prominent male simply to further their cause was one step too far. Fortunately, there were some high ranking individuals that were  willing to stand up for the girls. JM Stone, from State of Mississippi Executive Department, on January 22, 1890, says of this affair [x]:

 

“It is nothing more than justice that our girls should, at least, have equal chances with the boys.”7

 

As if having read from his letter, the girls remained steadfast in their quest for a college of excellence. And in 1891, their pleas were finally answered. After being quiet on the issue due to intense grief by the death of her husband in 1889, Annie Peyton accepted a position as a history teacher at I.I.&C. and quickly set about issuing reforms for the crumbling school.

 

 

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1 Letter from Richard Watson Jones to Annie Coleman Peyton, July 6, 1885. 20th folder, lot 441. The Peyton Collection. Mississippi University for Women Archives.

2 Bridget Smith Pieschel, The History of Mississippi University for Women, Mississippi Historical Society, March 2012. Accessed October 17, 2013. http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/379/the-history-of-mississippi-university-for-women.

3 Letter from M. Pointer to Annie Coleman Peyton, February 28, 1886. 20th folder, lot 441. The Peyton Collection. Mississippi University for Women Archives.

4 Letter from Bessie Watkins to Annie Coleman Peyton, March 13th, 1886. 20th folder, lot 441. The Peyton Collection. Mississippi University for Women Archives.

5 Sarah D. Neilson, The History of Mississippi State College for Women, 23-25.

6 Sarah Wilkerson-Freeman, “Pauline Van de Graaf Orr: Feminist Education in Mississippi,” in Mississippi Women: Their Lives, Their Histories, ed. Martha Swain, et al (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2003),78.

7 Ibid., 79.

8 Neilson, 26.

9 Letter from JM Stone to Annie Coleman Peyton, January 22, 1890. 28th folder, lot 441. The Peyton Collection. Mississippi University for Women Archives.

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Students Protest: 1884-1892