Newly elected leaders of the Black Student Union plan to increase student involvement and forge relationships with other Black student organizations to enhance their presence within the GW community in the next academic year.

BSU co-presidents Kelsey Baker and Bailey Moore will take the helm of the organization in the 2023-24 academic year, running an executive board filled with mostly new members. Incoming e-board officers said they plan to incorporate a more diverse group of students in BSU, like freshmen and students with different majors, to increase student involvement and hope to boost ties with other Black student groups on campus, like the African Student Association.

Moore, a junior majoring in public health and a co-president, said she served as BSU’s freshman representative her freshman year and admired the organizational skills of previous leaders like former president Gianna Cook, who inspired her to take on her new role. She said she plans to increase attendance at traditions former BSU leadership set like the Solidarity Conference, a discussion of topics like entrepreneurship, culture and media in the Black community, and the State of the Union Gala, an event held for the first time last year to commemorate the work of Black community members.

“If the organization is staying stagnant, then it’s not doing its job,” Moore said. “It should be continuously growing, continuously building with each year. So when I say strengthen the foundation, I mean build off of the foundation that has been there.”

Moore said BSU elected two co-presidents for the next academic year, a change from years past, to better balance the heavy workload of the president. Moore said BSU is the umbrella organization for all Black student groups on campus and the decision to elect two presidents will better split up the responsibilities of the president, ensuring the organization runs “smoothly” and “efficiently.”

Moore said she hopes to strengthen connections with other organizations like the ASA to bring more events to campus catered toward the Black community.

“I want to try to unite the two communities, the African American community and the African community at GW because I do feel like there has been some divisiveness, but I know that there can be work done to bring that together,” Moore said.

Moore said she hopes to host more events on the Mount Vernon Campus to get freshmen more involved within BSU because the group has mainly held events in Foggy Bottom in years past. She said she plans to directly ask freshmen what they hope to see more of within BSU events to ensure they remain a member and motivate them to become more involved in future years.

“If we’re having events that no one actually wants to go to, then that’s pointless,” Moore said. “Seeing what they want and seeing what they feel would keep them in BSU. Instead of guessing, just hear it directly from them.” 

Kalah Neal, a freshman majoring in international affairs and the incoming BSU vice president, said her responsibilities include facilitating meetings with e-board members and ensuring they adhere to their duties within BSU. Neal said she plans to hold more consistent events and increase networking throughout the school year because events in the past have mainly fallen near the beginning and end of the semester.

Neal said she plans to host outdoor events between freshmen orientation week and before classes start, like cookouts and picnics, to recruit more freshmen into the group before classes begin.

“It’s keeping that same consistency and keeping the community engaged with community service, with games or just offering a little bit more study hours and allowing for our students to learn how to be studious Black teachers,” Neal said.

Olivia Justice, a freshman majoring in political communication and human services and social justice and the vice president of special events and programming, said her new role oversees the planning of major events like Kickball on the Mall, a joint kickball game with American University’s BSU held for the first time this past semester, as well as Finale, an annual celebration marking the end of Black History Month in February where community members connect with food and dancing.

As the former freshman representative, Justice said she planned a freshman-senior mixer at District House in late March to bring BSU members of different grade levels together. She said seniors passed on advice at the event based on their four years of experience within BSU to guide freshmen in their future endeavors within the organization.

“I wanted to bring together the upperclassmen, specifically seniors and freshmen to give a little bit of advice, a little bit of words of wisdom like talk to us about your four years of experience, give us the key things we need to know,” Justice said.

Devin Tennant, a freshman majoring in public health and the incoming vice president of marketing, said BSU worked to increase freshmen involvement the past year and plans to continue their efforts through an expanded BSU social media presence starting in the summer. He said he plans to make social media content through “any type of inside joke” about GW’s campus to cater toward students’ sense of humor through platforms like TikTok, GW Engage, Instagram and Twitter, so freshmen are more likely to hear about and join the organization.

He said through the use of social media, BSU will “establish culture” on campus to inform students who are not Black about Black culture.

“I feel like as a Black man, I need to let people know we are here and let them know there’s a safe space for us on campus, and BSU allows that,” Tennant said. “I just want to let people know that there are Black students here, and if you are a Black student, you can feel comfortable and find your crowd.”

Rhea Turner, a freshman majoring in public health and data science and the incoming vice president of finance, said she is “proud” that she branched out from other organizations she participated in high school, like student council, by joining an organization that represents her identity.

Turner said she hopes to elevate student involvement within BSU through increased funding to ensure members have adequate funds to host events when they please.

“We see people around campus that are Black, and we’re just like, ‘Oh, we never see them at events like why don’t they come up to events?’” Turner said. “We want to have more involvement in general.”

Jennifer Igbonoba contributed reporting.