Picking Cotton Authors to Speak at University of Mount Olive

MOUNT OLIVE – Picking Cotton authors Jennifer Thomson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton will make a guest appearance at University of Mount Olive on Thursday, November 14, at 4:00 PM in the Southern Bank Auditorium located in Raper Hall.

Picking Cotton is the harrowing tale of two lives forever changed by a horrible crime—rape victim, Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and the man falsely accused of her rape, Ronald Cotton. Cotton spent 11 years in jail until a DNA test proved his innocence. Two years later, Thompson-Cannino and Cotton met face-to-face and forged a bond of friendship that changed their lives again.

Picking Cotton was selected as the University of Mount Olive Freshmen Read by the Common Reading Selection Committee, made up of select faculty, staff and students.  The committee carefully chose Picking Cotton from many acclaimed selections. “Our goal was to select a title that our students would find engaging, stimulating and instructive,” said Hill. “Picking Cotton fits all of those criteria, and has an added bonus of being about an event that happened in North Carolina. After reading the book freshmen have been engaged in stimulating discussions about the shortcomings of our justice system, violence in our society and the nature of forgiveness and grace.”

Thomson-Cannino and Cotton will speak out in favor of DNA testing and share how they work to protect the wrongfully convicted by talking about their personal stories of hope and redemption.  The public is invited to attend this free event.  For more information, contact Vice President for Student Affairs Dan Sullivan at dsullivan@moc.edu.

University of Mount Olive is a private institution rooted in the liberal arts tradition with defining Christian values. The College, sponsored by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists, has locations in Mount Olive, New Bern, Wilmington, Goldsboro, Research Triangle Park, Washington and Jacksonville. For more information, visit www.moc.edu.