Page 19 - LRCC June 2022 Focus

James Lenon Photography

originally proposed near railroad tracks and a lack of
parking. All those concerns were eventually worked out.

“It really took convincing people we should set a goal
for fundraising and go for it,” said Beachler. “There were
naysayers but we kept going.”

Dr. Wharton was instrumental in driving a fundraising
campaign for the proposed facility, working to raise
more than $1 million from campus organizations to
launch the effort. The plan was to raise $11 million for the
construction; the project ultimately cost $24.6 million.
Ground was broken in 1980, during Dr. Cecil Mackey’s
tenure as MSU president, with roughly half of the funds
for the project secured.

The MSU Board of Trustees voted to name the facility the
Clifton and Dolores Wharton Center for the Performing
Arts. “Dolores and I were deeply touched by the board’s
action,” Dr. Wharton wrote in his book, Privilege and
Prejudice: The Life of a Black Pioneer:

“We loved Michigan State and the performing arts. Now, Wharton Center for Performing Arts
the two strands of our affection were permanently
entwined, and the university would have a cultural Clifton and Dolores
showcase that could stand proudly with its other centers Wharton with Ken Beachler
of excellence.”

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