Businessman redirects millions from Ole Miss to nonprofit

TUPELO, Miss. (AP) – A businessman is pulling his $5.3 million donation, plus interest, from the University of Mississippi and giving the money to a nonprofit group that does community work and owns a newspaper.

Ed Meek’s action comes months after the university removed his name from its School of Journalism and New Media after Meek commented on a Facebook photo of two young African American women wearing short dresses, suggesting they exemplified problems that threatened the Oxford economy. Meek later apologized.

News outlets report Meek filed papers in July transferring his money to the CREATE Foundation, which owns the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal .

Meek tells the Daily Journal he was treated unfairly by the university and “roundly labeled as a racist.”

Meek led Ole Miss public relations for 37 years, starting in 1964.

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