Students formed an organization over the summer to bring together Black students interested in research, which is launching operations on campus this fall as an unofficial organization after the group was unable to apply to become a new student organization.
Black Students in Research began hosting events on campus this Wednesday, with around 30 students attending their first general body meeting of the year in Duques Hall, as they look to promote black student opportunities in research through their planned resume and LinkedIn workshops and connecting members with professors actively engaged in research. Members of BSIR’s executive board said they were encouraged by the turnout at Wednesday’s meeting and hope to create a space for Black students on campus who are looking to engage in academia in their undergraduate years and explore research across disciplines.
Siyan Tekle-Habtegabir, the organization’s founder and copresident, said she created the organization over the summer because she felt there was a lack of preprofessional organizations on campus for Black students. She said many Black students on campus are academic high achievers, so the lack of preprofessional organizations dedicated to them created a gap in student organization offerings.
“I wanted to close that gap by creating an organization that worked through professional development, disseminating opportunities and demystifying research in general,” Tekle-Habtegabir said.
Other preprofessional organizations for Black students on campus include groups like the GW Association of Black Journalists and the Black Public Health Student Network.
Tekle-Habtegabir said the organization will look to host specific events, like LinkedIn-building workshops, events on how to be a better public speaker and sessions on how to “cold email” professors — something she and other leadership members said they learned is crucial to obtaining research opportunities when they were first exploring research opportunities as undergraduate students. She said BSIR plans on hosting these events with other official organizations like GW’s American Medical Women’s Association and Black Girl Pre-Health Collective.
Tekle-Habtegabir said BSIR formed at the end of last semester as officials paused applications for new student organizations, finding out about the pause when they tried to formally establish themselves with the University right before the start of the fall semester. She said the freeze did not deter them from starting because she believes the organization is needed on campus.
Like some other organizations, including GW’s Pre-Nursing Society, BSIR has moved forward with hosting and planning events despite the pause. However, Tekle-Habtegabir said the organization’s leadership team has had to adapt to the lack of official status with the University by changing some leadership roles for members of their executive board.
She said one executive board member has shifted their role from collecting research resources and opportunities to focus on grant applications for BSIR to have funding, sending cold emails and beginning to collect funds from organizations geared towards advancing Black involvement in research, like the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, so BSIR can sustain itself without a University-provided budget.
“Unfortunately, without a budget, it becomes really, really difficult to provide the necessary support, supplies and resources that we would need to do that,” Tekle-Habtegabir said.
BSIR’s other co-president, Kayla McQuiller, said the “lively” atmosphere at BSIR’s first GBM, where students were talkative with each other, shows that even amidst a lack of official organization status, students have heard about and are interested in BSIR.
“We’ve had to work extra hard and make sure we’re known on campus,” McQuiller said. “We didn’t want their roadblock to stop us, so we’ve been working really hard on that.”
McQuiller said the organization hopes to work with professors to share their research opportunities with club members, along with bringing faculty to their events throughout the year to talk directly with students about research and getting involved.
“Mainly, it’s going to be to give our students and our attendees opportunities to talk to these professors, to meet one on one with these professors,” McQuiller said. “Primarily, we’re going to be looking at Black professors as well, just to keep our connections strong.”
McQuiller said the organization is also designed to be a safe space for students of color, especially as they navigate President Donald Trump’s policies targeting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education.
“We’re usually one of three people in the room that are of color and especially as we get higher and higher levels of education,” McQuiller said. “So this provides a safe space for us.”
The Trump administration has taken a swing at DEI since coming into office in January, aiming to dismantle diversity practices in institutions across the country, including higher education. The Supreme Court last month permitted Trump to cut nearly $800 million in research grants for DEI-related research.
Officials in August said they were assessing the implications of a July Department of Justice memo that federally funded institutions may be subjected to antidiscrimination laws if they engage in what the Trump administration defines as discriminatory behavior, including DEI policies.
Peri Roper, BSIR’s vice president, said she joined BSIR in a leadership capacity to help guide younger students through the research process, especially as a senior who has already participated in a few research opportunities herself.
“I generally resonated with the sentiment that it felt almost like there’s this barrier in terms of understanding research and seeing people who I knew well because we were all in a similar community of being Black or people of color or not the norm in general,” Roper said.
Roper said promoting their organization on campus has become a grassroots effort for BSIR as they traverse their unofficial status.
She said BSIR has pushed to connect with official organizations on campus in order to find their footing on campus. She also said the group will cohost collaborative events that promote both groups’ missions, like GW American Medical Women’s Association.
Roper added BSIR will apply to become an official organization once applications reopen sometime following the end of this academic year.
“We don’t necessarily have the official support of GW, but we managed to figure out a way for all of us to show up,” Roper said.
