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Byrd was killed June 7 in the small East Texas town of Jasper when three men beat him, chained him to the rear bumper of a truck and dragged him for nearly three miles.

The act was deemed a racially motivated hate crime because Byrd was black and because at least two of the three white attackers were associated with white supremacist groups.

In response to the tragedy of Byrd's death, President Malcolm Gillis proposed the scholarship a few months ago, and the Board of Trustees accepted the proposal.

"Rice decided to honor James Byrd with this scholarship because of the kind of people that he and his family are," Gillis said.

"He was a father, a brother, a son and a husband, and in the wake of this tragedy, his family has shown the capacity of forgiveness that most of us can only aspire to," Gillis said. "The idea of the scholarship is to honor [Byrd].

"The crime associated with his death is just as abhorrent as any crime that you can imagine, and it seemed to me that we needed to be a part of the healing process that this family is advocating."

Rice will award the first Byrd scholarship in April and continue to award one each year.

The scholarships will provide almost full tuition for four years, and the recipient may be of any race, ethnicity or gender.

Gillis said there are only two requirements for this scholarship. "First of all, the scholarship is need-based. And second, until such time that there is no need for people to try to bring us together across racial boundaries, the scholarship will be awarded to someone who actively works to narrow racial and ethnic boundaries," he said.

Rice held a reception Oct. 7 to announce the establishment of the scholarship. Board members, faculty, students and members of Byrd's family attended.

"With this new scholarship, I think that the university made a very positive gesture in recognizing the grace of the Byrd family through this tragedy," Student Association Internal Affairs Vice President and Lovett College junior Jace Frey said. "I hope to see both Rice students and administrators continue to build bridges over racial and other barriers, and I think the Byrd scholarship will enable future students to do just that."

The goal of the administration is to have four Byrd scholars on campus in four years. Gillis said, "Since Rice is responsible for the funding, we can be very flexible and perhaps give a scholarship to someone other than an incoming freshman. But, the future goal of the scholarship is to have four recipients on campus at all times."

This item appeared in the News section of the October 16, 1998 issue.