Updated May 1, 2024, at 11:03 a.m.
The newly elected Black Student Union executive board plans to increase student involvement in the organization and foster a community for Black students beyond their first year by showcasing professional and social events.
BSU co-presidents Kalah Neal and Netaya Davis will head the executive board for the 2024-25 academic year after their elections on April 13 to 14. With a mix of new members and those with previous experience holding positions, the incoming e-board officers said they hope to strengthen the BSU community for members after their first year by investing in BSU traditions like Soul Revue, a showcase of Black culture and talent, and professional development.
Neal, a sophomore who previously served as BSU’s executive vice president this year, said she wants to emphasize build experiences, study halls and financial seminars the organization offers by striking up conversation with members and personally inviting them to events. She said hearing what attendees want to see more of in their events like what kind of food they enjoyed allows BSU to cater to students’ wishes and increase attendance.
“We genuinely want to be a space for the community to come gather and then elevate themselves,” Neal said.
Neal said being a Black student at a predominantly white institution is “hard to do and you’re doing it alone.” She said having an established Black community like the BSU gives students an outlet to share experiences that may be unfamiliar to non-Black students.
“A sense of community at a PWI, especially for Black students, is crucial because a lot of students have dealt with small microaggressions, and who do you voice those to rather than people that can understand 100 percent where you’re coming from,” Neal said.
Davis, a sophomore and BSU’s former vice president of community outreach, said she hopes to increase collaboration with other Black student organizations to host programming, like when BSU hosted an event earlier this month with multiple organizations like the Black Women’s Forum and the Caribbean Students Association where attendees wrote appreciation cards and gifted decorated mugs to female faculty members.
Davis said hosting networking events and panels while continuing annual events like “Finale,” a party at the end of every Black Heritage Celebration celebrating Blackness, and “Blacksgiving,” a pre-Thanksgiving feast honoring Black heritage through free dishes like macaroni and stuffing from the Black community is part of keeping upperclassmen involved with the organization.
“Overall the Black Student Union means, it means for me, family ties, like a home away from home,” Davis said.
Davis said BSU is where students can find a Black community within a PWI and hopes the organization can feel like a familiar community for Black students by personally connecting with her peers. She said last year’s BSU president, Gianna Cook, inspired her to create a “welcoming environment.” She said she remembers Cook taking her “under her wing” by supporting her as a new Black student at a PWI.
“You don’t have to have a class with someone to get to know someone, you can just see them walking down the street,” Davis said. “You look like me, we look alike, and we are at a PWI, let’s get to know each other.”
Sophomore Devin Tennant, BSU’s incoming executive vice president and last year’s vice president of marketing, said he hopes to foster collaboration between Black student organizations. He said he was able to help smaller organizations like CSA and GW Haiti by promoting their events earlier and giving them more time to plan their programming.
He said the BSU’s role on campus extends beyond creating a safe space for Black students to also educate those unfamiliar with Black culture. Tennant said BSU’s large events “spotlight” Black culture and ensure Black students are seen on campus.
“I feel like in leadership, in student leadership on campus we lack a voice,” Tennant said. “If you look at SGA and other other groups that kind of speak for the students, there really isn’t much representation.”
Sophomore Rhea Turner said she will serve again as BSU’s vice president of finance, and that her first year was a “learning experience.” She said her previous experience will allow her more time to focus on funding for Blacksgiving, which is BSU’s “biggest event.”
Turner said BSU’s various initiatives, like hosting a keynote speaker, daily events during their monthlong Black History Month celebration and frequent fellowship nights, create spaces for Black students to connect on “a campus that’s not really made for us.”
“It’s a relaxing moment for me when I go to those events and I’m with people that look like me and have the same interests as me,” Turner said. “BSU, to me, is just a space and a community that I can always depend on.”
First-year Destiny Tillear, the BSU’s director of advocacy, said she wants to organize events to teach others advocacy skills they can use in their own communities and connect them with organizations around the District, like the American Civil Liberties Union and the D.C. Abortion Fund. She said she worked on projects with the ACLU like organizing protests for transgender rights and defunding the Los Angeles Unified School District’s school police department, and hopes to facilitate similar experiences through the role.
“A lot of people call D.C. home, a lot of people call other places homes so it’s about learning how you can advocate for D.C., as well as taking those skills and taking them back home,” Tillear said.
Tillear said she plans to make personal connections with upperclassmen by directly reaching out to them through social media or in person to increase their involvement in the organization.
“There’s just so many great upperclassmen here that can be amazing role models for underclassmen that I wish were a little more involved because I do love the upperclass,” Tillear said.
First-year Kelechi Okurie, BSU’s first-year representative this past year, will be the historian for the upcoming academic year. She said she will document the organization’s activities throughout the year to help future executive boards and document Black culture at GW. She said she met a group of friends through the BSU that help foster community at GW for Black students.
“I got to meet other Black students out there, Nigerian students, other people that I could relate to, and I’ve never had that before, and it’s really, it’s just been really beautiful,” Okurie said.
This post has been updated to correct the following:
The Hatchet incorrectly attributed a photo of last year’s Black Student Union executive board as this year’s incoming executive board. We regret this error.
