In this article, the author profiles Dolores E. Cross, who, during her more than 30-year academic career, has advocated for multicultural education, championed equal education access for all students, and blazed trails as the first African-American female president of Chicago State University and the first female president of Morris Brown College. For Cross, the college president, life as she knew it ended four years ago this month when she was fined and sentenced to a year of house arrest, 500 hours of community service, and five years of probation on charges related to financial irregularities at Morris Brown. As Cross would come to realize, that life began its ebb in 1998, when she said "yes" to leading the historically Black college. In her new memoir, "Beyond the Wall," Cross tells the tale of her impoverished youth in Newark, New Jersey, the unrelenting pursuit to educate herself, her ascent to university administration, and her eventual descent. The veteran marathoner takes refuge in a runner's vocabulary. "Marathons" serve as metaphors for Cross' constant race against the clock to fix Morris Brown, but she would eventually "hit the wall"--the place she says runners never want to find themselves--when she was indicted on 27 counts of fraud. "Beyond the Wall" is Cross' side of the story and her attempt to quell the rumors and dismantle media misinformation. In a recent telephone interview from her Chicago condo, frustration still fills Cross' voice as she recounts the myriad news stories and outlets that "wrongly reported" that she embezzled student financial aid funds and conspired to commit fraud while at Morris Brown. Still, in "Beyond the Wall," most of the finger pointing about Cross' tenure and downfall at Morris Brown is at herself.