On April 8, 2004 a letter was published in the The Nicholls Worth about the mascot decision at Nicholls State University. The letter written by Mr. Lapeyrouse in outrage of the decision to retire the mascot by Dr. Hulbert makes many misleading points and accusations about the way things were handled, about the Nicholls State University chapter of the NAACP, and about myself (Paul H. Hypolite, Jr).
The first of many misleading accusation is “How a Texas-bred student can understand Louisiana tradition?” Well first of all, animals are bred and therefore I am not a bred able species. To answer the question of “how can I understand Louisiana tradition,” my father was born and raised in New Iberia, Louisiana and lives there today. My mother’s grandmother, which was my great grandmother, was born and raised in Cameron, Louisiana and I have seven aunts and uncles and many cousin’s who reside in many parts of Louisiana. I have also spent endless days in New Iberia and Cameron knowing and understanding Louisiana traditions. And what may be a tradition to you all may be torment for others like myself. So don’t ask me about Louisiana traditions because I know about Louisiana tradition.
In response to the second statement of Mr. Lapeyrouse that says that “The NAACP openly supports reverse racism,” and that “The NAACP does not represent colored people; it represents blacks – not Indians, not Latinos and not Asians,” which is one hundred percent false. Six people founded the NAACP in 1909 and they were all African American and Caucasian. The principle objective of the NAACP is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of the United States. So as you all can see, Mr. Lapeyrouse statements are very false.
To respond to his final accusation which states “Dr. Hulbert has succumbed to the pressure of the NAACP; pressure from Jerome Boiken and his puppet Paul Hypolite Jr. We may never know for sure what kind of pressure this is, but if it is financial, Nicholls will lose much more money from thousands of alumni as a result of the change.” In response to that statement, Dr. Hulbert was not under any type of pressure from myself (Paul Hypolite, Jr.) or Mr. Boykin. Dr. Hulbert did what Dr. Ayo should have done in the past but did not because of fear of what people like you would have said. And if the alumni refuses to give donations to the university because of the decision of Dr. Hulbert, then the alumni’s are not faithful to the university, they are faithful to a colonel instead of Nicholls State University which by the way is printed on their degree.

Sincerely,

Paul H. Hypolite, Jr.

Nicholls State University
NAACP President