It sounds like a snapshot from Selma, Ala., circa 1965, or a melodramatic scene from the movie "Mississippi Burning." But it's not. It happened last month to an African student from Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. The student was participating in a program in which divinity students preparing to become Baptist ministers are sent out to preach at local Baptist churches. When the student showed up to deliver his sermon to a predominantly white congregation, he was not allowed to enter the church.

This isn't the first time this type of confrontation has occurred. "There have been several incidents reported over a period of time," said Dr. Thomas E. Corts, president of Samford University. "It's not widespread. Some of our African students have had wonderful experiences in rural churches around the state. But there are some pockets of concern."

The 50-year-old program is called H-Day -- for Howard College, the university's original name. During the school year the divinity students are rotated to preach in a different church each Sunday, and the churches provide the students with a $75 honorarium for each sermon. The program, which has been managed by Samford students since its inception, is designed to give the students practical in-church experience to supplement their coursework.

According to Corts, the directors of missions within the local Baptist association place a request with Samford's divinity school when they want a student to come preach at their church. The trouble began when some of the directors began expressing their belief that it was inappropriate to send black students to white churches. Corts said, "Some of the directors started to say, 'We're not sure if they're welcome.'" The animosity festered for months and finally came to a head when the African student was barred from delivering his sermon.

"This is absolutely unacceptable to the university," Corts said. So the H-Day program has been suspended while Samford officials reassess the school's relationship with the offending churches and restructures the H-Day program to ensure that it runs smoothly in the future. "We're going to make it an official university program," Corts said, with faculty overseeing the administration and placement of the students in churches.

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