With the beginning of February now underway, the Black Student Union (BSU) and the Department of Student Belonging, Diversity and Equity (DEI Office) have jumped into action to celebrate Black History Month on campus.
Currently, the DEI Office is collaborating with the Black Student Union to put on two programs. The first program, the Voice of the Heroes Campaign – a social media campaign – and the next one is the Black Money workshop.
The Voice of the Heroes Campaign gave the opportunity to black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) to speak on historical black figures who have had a significant impact on their lives and to give those figures a voice in which they are not able to speak today. The campaign was held Feb. 2 and 4.
Darrien Waugh, student coordinator for the DEI Office, said “… I am actually opening up my own business [ThinkinGenWealth] … and we pretty much educate marginalized communities on everything finances. So, for every student that signs up we are now opening our doors, essentially, for one-on-one mentorship opportunities for the remainder of the semester.”
The Black Money workshop will be held Feb. 14. This program is specifically to recognize the barriers within the BIPOC community when having to do with financial opportunities, understanding and having access to finances, and even building wealth.
Waugh will be educating everyone who attends the program on how to begin their financial journey now while in college. While this is held on campus, there has been outside networking from the community, notably the president of the Walpole Savings Bank, Mark Bodin, and the CEO of the Keene YMCA, Daniel Smith, who are interested in attending.
Though the Black Money workshop was placed on Valentines Day, Waugh said the reason for the 14th as the date of the workshop is because it coincides with Frederick Douglass’ birthday, a prominent black figure in American history.
He goes further in addressing ways that he has reached the student body such as bringing together the Diversity Commission, which is a collective of all student departments on campus to create a more equitable and inclusive community as well as collaborating more closely with Student Involvement.
Despite the importance noted by Waugh of putting events earlier in the month, the BSU has a slightly different approach. Cheyenne Byfield, vice president and current acting president of the Black Student Union, said most of the BSU’s events happen outside of February to make sure they are ‘pushed out and flushed out.’
The Union plans on hosting a Spoken Word Poetry night at the Jamaican grill and restaurant, Yahso, on March 2nd at 6 p.m. The club is also collaborating with the DEI Office on March 9 to host a Cultural Night.
With the events the DEI Office and BSU are hosting, Waugh said he hoped students understand the power they possess.
“Use your voices… I’m talking anyone, recognize the power that you have by paying to come here,” Waugh said. “You pay my salary, you pay the president’s salary, you fund everybody’s career here. Don’t let that go for granted.”
Waugh added, “The main highlight of the month is providing value… I think value is the important thing, so we’re bringing value now and we will see how that goes.”
Similarly, Byfield said the Black Student Union “allows us to have a voice to be able to speak on certain things for the school.”
BSU meetings are held every Friday at 2 p.m. in the Cultural Center.
McKenzie French can be contacted at
McKenzie.French@keene.edu
