Black Student Union (BSU) is a student-led club dedicated to unite, elevate, and empower Black People on the WNMU campus. Dr. Isaacc Brundage is the club advisor. The club’s executive members are Laruni Witty as President, DeAndre Williams as Vice President, and Breya Brown as Secretary.
The Mustang Newspaper had the opportunity to interview Vice President, DeAndre Williams, to get insights into their goals and offer them to students as a club. Williams is a Senior and a level 3 Nursing student here at WNMU. He represented WNMU’s Football team for four years. Williams also possesses a work-study position at Media Technology Services in the school’s library.
Q: What is BSU? What is the purpose of the club?
A: The purpose of BSU is to advocate for the students’ needs while discussing the black experience. We want to build a further connection to the other minority groups here on campus, like MEChA. It is not just about the black students; of course, we would want a lot of the black students to be a part of it, but we wanted to be more of the connection between all of our group to the other minorities as well as the rest of the school in general.
Q: Who can join, and how?
A: Anybody can join, not just black students. Anybody that wants to join the Black Student Union and be part of our organization is welcome too! To find out how to join, they can contact any of us any of the officers. Then, the rest is just as easy as getting started.
Q: Do you have any requirements for the club?
We have not talked about too many other requirements, other than to be a part of the organization, to come to the meetings, and learn about what we are bringing to campus.
Q: What is your opinion on the Black Lives Matter Movements currently happening?
My opinion on the Black Lives Matter Movement is much like a lot of the others. It is not just to say that only black lives matter. Instead of that, many black lives feel like our lives do not matter in everything going on. I want to build a safe environment at WNMU, so you will not have to feel like you always have to worry about something when there is law enforcement involved. That you can always feel safe and the environment should be, no matter what skin color you are. That is another reason why we started the Black Student Union. We need to come together as one, not just black students. Anybody who wants to know more about what we feel about the situation can talk and get to know one another. It is not a movement that supports anything negative that the media portrays. It is just a moment where we want to be seen as equal to everybody else.
Q: Do you have any future events you would like to promote for students to come out?
A: Definitely!! Our next event will be The Tent Event, which will be on Friday, October 23rd, around 5:00 PM. We want people to come out and see what we are about. If they got any questions or any interest, we would be there for socializing. There will be free food, of course. Masks are required. We will be social distancing, and it will be outside. We want everybody to come out there and get some food from Taste In Vegas. It is delicious! Come and support what we got going on and what we want to start to keep going as a legacy.
Q: Is anything you would like to add to this article?
A: If you want to join BSU, we welcome you with open arms. We are really cool and loving people that we want to open up to everybody to join our organization. We hope to see you there at The Tent Event!
For more information on BSU, contact Laruni Witty (wittyl@wnmu.edu) or DeAndre Williams (williamsd15@wnmu.edu).
