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Black community strives to be more united

The Black retreat was held Sunday in the Harris Art Gallery. Alumni Ms. Margaret and Donte Witherspoon joined the group to discuss ways to attract alumni and students to help keep the community going strong. The retreat was open to Black students, faculty and staff. / photo by Stephanie Arellanes
The Black retreat was held Sunday in the Harris Art Gallery. Alumni Ms. Margaret and Donte Witherspoon joined the group to discuss ways to attract alumni and students to help keep the community going strong. The retreat was open to Black students, faculty and staff. / photo by Stephanie Arellanes

Sher Porter
LV Life Editor

The fourth annual Black Student Retreat was held Sunday in the Harris Art Gallery for the 35 attendees to discuss issues in the Black community of the University of La Verne.

The retreat was planned by graduate student Gyasmine George. Richard Rose, professor of religion, brought up the idea of having another retreat at a coalition for diversity meeting and George volunteered to put it together. George volunteered to organize the retreat because she felt like the retreat needed to happen.

“I’d planned things before but not a retreat,” George said. “I didn’t know, I didn’t care, because it needed to happen.”

When guests arrived they wrote on poster papers that had different subjects relating to ways the guests thought the Black community could improve on campus.

Once the guests were settled, they were asked to split into three different groups: one group of women, one of men and one of the alumni that attended. They were asked to go to their respective rooms to talk about different issues they see in the Black community on campus and solutions to those issues.

“Because I feel that the Black community at La Verne can always be better,” Britney Collins, a graduate student, said.

When all of the groups were done discussing, everyone came back together to eat and discuss as an entire group.

Some topics that were brought up were re-establishing Sister Circle, a club for Black women to help strengthen each other; reach out to prospective Black students during Spotlight Day at ULV and making contact with them over e-mail or Facebook; increase the visibility of Black faculty and staff; increase the communication and find more ways to make the Black community more visible at more events.

One of the major concerns was the ratio of Black men to Black women on campus. Although there are more women than men in general, it is especially noticeable because the Black population is smaller and most Black men leave the school after one to two years.

“I see all these women around here, but where are all the men?” Harvel Lewis, professor of sociology, said.

Some solutions that were brought up were to have a follow-up meeting to the retreat, create a plan of action, have a leaders’ council/forum for all the leaders of each Black club and organization and create a calendar of events for each of the groups.

One of the ideas that is already in action is the Black Alliance for Scholarship Education. The purpose of leaders of the Black community on campus in an effort to unify the community.

“My spirit can’t let things stay dormant,” George said.

One of the ongoing jokes of the day was that no one had ever been in a room with that many Black people on campus.

Since the population of Black students on campus is less than 10 percent, most classrooms are not populated by many Black students.

“Because I go to a lot of other events at this school, it is nice to have an event that is just for the Black community at La Verne,” Evany Brewton, a freshman psychology and business administration major, said.

The purpose of the Black retreat is for members of the Black community, including undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, staff, administration and alumni, to come and think of ways to strengthen the community on campus.

“I’m just juiced about what can take place today,” George said.

In late March there was a planning meeting for those who wanted to help George with the event.

George had help from many people including students Ashley Joseph, Chalena Robertson, Toya Johnson-Moore and Ryan Figgs as well as Sharon Cruz-McKinney, Harvel Lewis, Robert Lewis, Rose and Daniel Loera.

“I have a responsibility for not only getting the African Americans into the campus, but I also have a strong responsibility for getting them out,” Cruz-McKinney, community relations and outreach director, said.

Sher Porter can be reached at sherrice.porter@laverne.edu.

Sher Porter, LV Life Editor
Sher Porter
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