Rudolph Alexander, a professor in the College of Social Work who has sued Ohio State and the former dean of the school, was convicted of murder in Georgia in 1968 and sentenced to death.
Alexander was 17 years old when he was convicted of shooting and killing a teenage gang member in Savannah, Ga. But a year later, the Georgia state Supreme Court overturned his death sentence and he was instead condemned to life in prison. He spent nearly eight years in a maximum security prison before being paroled in 1975.
Alexander wrote extensively about these events in his autobiography, “To Ascend Into the Shining World Again,” published in 2001. Alexander paid to have it published himself.
“One of the difficulties that I have had is that few people want to accept that a defense attorney would deliberately hurt a client or a racist judge would send signals to a prosecutor and help the prosecutor pack a jury with hanging jurors,” Alexander wrote in an e-mail to The Lantern.
Alexander is suing OSU, the College of Social Work and its former dean, William Meezan, charging racial discrimination. A somewhat critical review by Meezan in 2006 in large part provoked Alexander to sue.
In a 2006 e-mail to Meezan, Alexander claimed that the review was discriminatory and that Meezan was bullying him.
“Seemingly you were testing whether I was some dumb colored boy that you could tell any lie and I would be too gullible to consider otherwise,” he wrote in the e-mail. “Your evaluation of me is your way to demonstrate that street fighter bullshit that floating in your head.”
Since he filed his suit, Alexander has been vocal about his displeasure with Meezan. Meezan testified in a deposition that Alexander called him a “gay leprechaun” in a class and accused Meezan of having AIDS. Meezan is gay but does not have AIDS. Meezan became dean of the college in 2005 and resigned over the summer. He said his clashes with Alexander had little to do with his decision to quit.
Alexander’s complaints about the college go far back. For example, he alleged discriminatory behavior by some of the members of the promotion and tenure committee in a Feb. 23, 1993, memorandum addressed to then-Dean Richard Boettcher and President E. Gordon Gee, among others.
Alexander says he’s been fighting racial discrimination since the murder. Alexander shot and killed Thomas Wright Williams, a black gang member who crossed paths with Alexander at a store in September 1967, according to a 2004 article in The Savannah Morning News about a speech Alexander made in the city. The article also states he was paroled in May 1975 because he was no longer deemed a threat to society.
Alexander says in his book that he only got the gun to protect himself from a gang called “the Tornadoes” after a previous run-in with them. He claims in the book that they cut his good eye in an unprovoked attack. Alexander says he had lost most of his eyesight in his other eye after a co-worker attacked him earlier that year.
Despite being a capable student in high school, Alexander never considered higher education until his time in prison.
“One of my childhood friends began writing me and visiting me in prison,”
Alexander wrote in an e-mail to The Lantern. “She had a master degree in French from the University of Illinois and I began thinking about college then. Also, my youngest sister was in college, majoring in criminal justice and she told me she was enjoying college.”
He has described the circumstances of his release as “almost a miracle.”
Alexander was turned down for parole just eight months before parole was granted. Alexander said to The Lantern that he believes a white attorney involved in his conviction felt guilty about it and arranged his parole.
After his release, he went on to earn degrees from Armstrong State College, Sam Houston State, the University of Houston and finally a doctorate degree from the University of Minnesota. His areas of focus have included criminal justice, criminology and social work.
The current dean of the College of Social Work, Tom Gregoire, says Alexander is a valuable part of the college.
“Dr. Alexander serves as a supportive mentor to many junior faculty and is a respected colleague,” Gregoire said in an e-mail. “Dr. Alexander has always been open about his experience with the justice system in his youth. That experience has formed the basis of much of his scholarship and teaching.”
While prison may have pushed Alexander toward higher education, the experience is hardly one he embraces.
“Frankly, I was a better person before I came into contact with the medical system and the criminal justice system,” he said via e-mail. “I have moved somewhat back to who I was but I was a better person as a 15 year old and 16 year than I am now at 59.”
