The Black Student Union started by Colston Westbrooks is a group of students on campus that wish to invite all students of all races and educate them on the seldom known stories of blacks throughout history.
Westbrooks, president of the BSU, wishes to see this new union flourish on campus.
The next meeting for the BSU is March 3.
“When I went to go get the Union set up I realized there used to be a BSU before this one, and that I was bringing it back,” Westbrooks said.
According to Daniel Gomez, the BSU has had history with the campus before, but occasionally goes quiet until it is reactivated, usually in the spring semesters.
“We wanted to make this Union to basically let students, all students no matter the culture, voice their opinions,” Secretary of the BSU Xavier Jones said.
“This isn’t just about voicing your opinion, different students have different ideas about things.”
According to Jones, there are students out there that have difficulty speaking their minds to the public because they do not wish to attract negative criticism.
“We want to be there for students like that, they can come to us and then express how they feel,” Jones said. “Maybe they have a new idea, maybe they have a new project they want to do.
We want to be here, open hands open arms.”
“The time is now,” Westbrooks said as he organized the items and personnel needed to start the BSU.
“With things like Michael Brown and Eric Garner going on, you need to raise awareness,” Westbrooks added.
Having a new management team at the forefront of the BSU, talks to keep the Union from going under the radar again are welcomed, however, the board of the Union will discuss topics like that in the upcoming meetings.
“Right now, we are just trying to get the notions of what we want to do,” Westbrooks said.
The goals the Westbrooks and the BSU want to do is advocate causes for the black community, be socially approachable and educate the members on the African-American history.
“We want to be sociable, so we are planning to have social events with the Union,” Westbrooks said.
Vice President of the BSU Issac Mciver, says the Union wants to teach people the figures that often times their stories were kept silent throughout history.
“We might talk about people like Langston Hughes or Angela Davis,” Mciver said.
