full storyTwo men interrupted a private reception in the Fayetteville State University chancellor's residence last month and refused to leave until asked by a campus police officer.
Chancellor James A. Anderson recounted the incident at last week's board of trustees meeting. An FSU police report also describes the confrontation.
Anderson was hosting a Nov. 17 reception at his home on Skye Drive for people of Nigerian descent when the two men walked in. Arthur G. Affleck III, the vice chancellor for institutional advancement, said one of the men walked up to the bar while the other stayed closer to the door. Affleck said when he asked the man at the bar if he could help him, the man said he wanted a drink. Affleck told him the reception was private.
The man told Affleck that the home was a public building paid with state funds and said, "Can't I come in here when I want to?" Affleck said he told him he would have to leave.
The chancellor's residence is owned by the state but is considered private property.
When the men were told that they weren't invited, one asked if FSU officials knew they weren't invited because they were white.
Anderson's wife, Nancy, said that wasn't true, and she knew they weren't invited because she had made the guest list, according to Affleck.