[Applause] Welcome to our latest installment of good trouble from the office of diversity equity inclusion i’m kathy wong lau i’m the chief diversity officer at san jose state university i want to first of all remind everyone why this series is named good trouble we have other installments that you can look for
But i want to quote the honorable john lewis in a very powerful statement that he made in 2018 do not get lost in a sea of despair be hopeful be optimistic our struggle is not the struggle of a day a week or a month or a year it is the struggle of a
Lifetime never ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble necessary trouble and this is of course has been an inspiration for many many people um beyond john lewis’s circle across the country and around the world and so today we have some very important
Guests with us who get into good trouble and necessary trouble and do make noise on our campus but in ways i think that are very inspiring for their fellow employees faculty staff and administrators as well as for students and the local community and so um before i start with introductions i want to
First talk to you about you know the fact that this is february it is black history month and today we chose for this um episode to really talk about the importance of um black sororities and fraternities and the national uh panhellenic council at mphc and the divine nine and so a lot of
Times when we think about greek organizations um the reason why i stutter is i’m trying to get out of the habit of calling them greek organizations i know they should be fraternities and sororities on campus we often think that the multicultural ones are ones that are
Sort of add-ons or they they may we may not understand the the really important um prominence they play in communities and people’s lives but also the important function they serve in terms of creating a sense of belonging but also the history of resistance that really created them in the first place
And so i want to um just list for you the names of um and and the years of establishment and the institutions in which um the divine nine organizations were established so we have alpha phi alpha fraternity founded in 1906 at cornell university alpha kappa alpha sorority founded in 1908 at howard university
Kappa alpha psi fraternity founded in 1911 at indiana university omega psi phi fraternity founded in 1911 at howard university delta sigma theta sorority founded in 1913 at howard university phi beta sigma fraternities founded in 1914 at howard university zeta phi beta sorority founded in 1920 at howard university
Sigma gamma rho sorority founded in 1922 at butler university and an iota phi theta fraternity founded in 1963 at morgan state university and so when you look at the foundations of many of our black fraternities and sororities they go back quite a ways all the way to 1906
And so they’ve been around for a very long time so now i’m going to go to our guests who all happen to be members of these organizations and and have really have great experience and a lot i think a lot of expert as well as personal experience to share
So i would like to ask our guests to first introduce yourselves to our audience um talk a little bit about the role that you play um the number of years that you’ve been on campus here at san jose state um and then you know when
When was you know when did you join um an organization an nphc organization and then which one you’re a member of of course and then why did you choose the one that you chose so it’s kind of a lot of questions and then we’ll you’ll all
Remind each other um you know if you if you miss one of the questions but who would like to start should i call on you i’ll call on uh okay i’ll call on um kalita i knew that was gonna happen so um good afternoon um my name is
Coletta mcelroy i’m currently serving in the senior avp role interim senior avp role for enrollment management overseeing our enrollment units so financial aid registration admissions undergrad admissions and a communications unit here i have been on campus one of the old school ones been here 33 years i really enjoy what i do
Students keep me young so i appreciate that um i actually joined alpha kappa alpha increase already incorporated at long beach state so another csu campus um and that was in 1980 so one of the reasons that i joined is i come from a family of
Five i am the only girl so i was looking for sisterhood so that is one of the things that motivated me to join a sorority um why alpha kappa alpha i you know had attended a number of events on the campus but i felt at home there and i really appreciated the connections
That i made um long beach state is a huge campus like san jose state so it’s one of those where you can get lost if you don’t find someone or something to connect so i was able to do that and really appreciate it over the years i’m
Actually in a graduate chapter now just the sisterhood the connection um the networking that i’ve made with the different um source that i have there great thank you so much um next um travis yes thank you dr wong my name is travis boyce and i am the department chair of african american
Studies and i’m also the director of ethnic studies collaborative and this is my second year here at san jose state university um the last 11 years i was i started my academic career at the university of northern colorado in greeley in 2009 so um i’m glad to be here this is the second
Second part of my career so i’m looking forward to moving on to the bigger things as well um so i joined kappa alpha site fraternity um in 1999 i was a sophomore in college at claflin university in orangeburg south carolina and claflin is the oldest historically black college in the state of south
Carolina it was founded in 1869 about four years after the american civil war um let’s see what else um we i think what was great about joining um a black greek organization in the american south is that you know we had south carolina state university next door and they had all eight npac
Organizations eight out of the nine mps or mps organizations and you had universities throughout the area that so it was relatively a robust group um but i was inspired to join cap alpha psi as a high school student i was part of the kappa league and i’m so sorry the
Sun’s i’m in my office right now um i was a part of the kappa league which is like their junior organization their junior auxiliary organization and um they made the investment in me they gave me a scholarship to go to college and here i am wow yeah great thank you thank you
Next uh henderson it’s finding my mute button good afternoon everybody it’s always a pleasure to be in such great company um so my name is henderson hill iii i serve as director for the office of student involvement i have direct purview over attorney sorority life um campus leadership programs um campus
Programming um and then also a purview of our recognized student organizations which we average about 350-ish inclu inclusive of our fraternity storyline chapters so it’ll be five years for me here at the institution june 17th is how i have time has flown um but have thoroughly enjoyed
The work that i’ve been able to do here at sjsu um so why i chose kappa alpha psi fraternity incorporated uh my my uh entry or my initiation and joining or uh kappa obviously i was a little bit different i joined after i graduated undergrad um and so you know i had that
Didn’t have the opportunity to do an undergrad but still understood that i still want to be a part of this amazing organization um and so grew up in a community with men who were part of the organization who were my optometrists who were my dentists who were you know
Uh business owners in the community and they were just great men that i really looked up to and you know then when i started to learn more about who they were and them being members of the organization i was like it resonates with me um and so you know i you know i
Come from a big family as well so i you know i have five brothers and a sister so i wasn’t necessarily looking for brotherhood but also looking just for commonality of people who are like-minded um i graduated from historically black college university nashvilleton in nashville tennessee tennessee state university and so was
Very aware of the importance of um npac chapters the work that they did in the community and on campus but also the the community pieces um and so then as i you know got into higher ed and worked at uh majority institutions that also seen that a lot of our students who joined
Those it was community it was that connection to not only keep them retained at the institution but also help them to be able to transition and have those networking pieces like kalita mentioned earlier um and so i i am honored and blessed and privileged to be a part of this organization um and
Continue to do the great work um as a member great thank you henderson and felicia hi everyone felicia mckee faggins i’m the executive assistant and diversity program specialist in the office of diversity and i’ve been at the campus 16 years now um honestly i can think about joining sigma
And it always makes me smile i joined spring 94 at the university of southern california um sigma gamma ro was just coming back to campus at the time that i joined and um i found that i wanted to be part of a greek system i want to learn more about it because i
Had an older cousin who was a member of alpha phi alpha fraternity incorporated and he would always visit on his way to step shows and stuff like that so i was like i have to see what this is all about and then when i got to college um sigma
Was one i had not heard of before i’d heard of delta and i’ve heard of aka and i was like let me see what these other two are about as well um and was just the most comfortable with the sores that were there they took us places with them to hang
Out to get to know us and it was just a very friendly collegial um relationship even before i joined and one of my good friends who lived on my floor in my dorms was like she was super into and she was like let’s go check them out and drag me along
And i’m glad she did to this day she’s one of my best friends and one of my line sisters and i also am active in the silicon valley alumni chapter here in the bay area and we just reached 100 members in our alumnae chapter so it’s really exciting the work that
We’re doing we still do a lot of work in san jose and the community um actually throughout the bay area so um sigma’s been a part of my life since i was 19 years old so i can’t even imagine um life without my sorority at this point
Thank you all of you and uh felicia’s answer the the last thing that you said i think is a good segue into the next question is how important have these organizations been in your life in terms of professional personal networks and you know just your sense of sense of well-being
Anyone can can share if they would like i i can share because when philly is funny you were saying that cathy because when felicia said i was like oh my god i’m starting to reflect i’m also starting to date myself but i’m starting to reflect i i remember uh as a professional right
Out of grad school a new professional out of grad school moving to seattle washington didn’t know anybody in seattle but who but the good brothers of kappa alpha were like come on in we go we didn’t found your barber shop who was my fraternity brothers was my barber the whole time i
Lived in seattle um they had a house there where the alumni members met and undergraduates hung out there too as well i mean the first weekend i was there they had me in a community parade and so it was like i just moved it like
And so i just think of even the time i was in bermuda doing some study abroad stuff for work that i’m there and who did i run into on a bus but a member of kappa alpha psi who also invited me to dinner with his family in
It so it has been one of those that i’ve really appreciated the the the brotherhood and the support and uh to be able to be somewhere someone sees that you have on some paraphernalia or a shirt you can you can signal to one another and you can it just to be in
That i’ve run into brothers at the gym et cetera et cetera so i’ve really really appreciated that also from the standpoint i would think even speaking more broader not just with kappa alpha my and my membership there but also just to other members of npac we have a certain like
We kind of resonate with one another you might be a member of our file for bless your heart but at the same time we still kind of resonate to say hey we have some commonality we’re we’re part of nphc and how do we connect and support one another so for me
Like like felicia said i cannot imagine my life without kappa so thank you and i i can pick back off uh the good brother henderson um in graduate school so when i left clapham um i went to graduate school with ohio university which was a very very very predominantly white institution and
I didn’t know anyone there um but i happen to run into um a good friend you know he’s now a brother now um that checked in on me you know like he was a grad student as well and a seasoned student there and um but one thing i did appreciate about him
That he checked in on me like being a being a stranger in this strange place and being lonely that first year and so that’s those are the things i appreciate so i think though that professional and that network support that no matter where you go now i know it’s a cliche that you
You’ll always find a brother or sister there and so that’s helpful and i think if we put that into context of black america and having to be in spaces predominantly white spaces especially in this business in higher ed where you can be in atlanta georgia or
You can be in the middle of nowhere nebraska that you’ll find a sense of community so i think that that’s something that’s helpful for me yeah thank you thank you kathy i would actually talk about what henderson and travis both said i think even when you think about
We may be from different as we say communities but there’s always that crossover because there’s that support that you may have and you’re in a place where you don’t see a lot of people that look like you you know even though it could be i see felicia we’ve supported
Each other so much it’s not about she’s in blue i’m in pain it’s about supporting us as we both grow together and then supporting our students because there’s such a crossover that we are in different sororities but just knowing that there is that group there’s the people there that will network with you
That will open doors or you know show you the way to go who will check you if you need to be checked you know so it’s just that you know understanding that lived experience that we have even though you may have went through like henderson and travis same fraternity
Different schools but you know that shared lived experience and how we empower each other just to move to the next level and it sounds like some of the powerful things that are accomplished is that is that you feel like someone anticipated the problems that you may encounter
And actually reached out to to support you you know not to not to not to um not to prevent you from having your own experiences but just to be there right for you and that that sense of belonging i think is sounds incredibly powerful for our students who maybe haven’t
Thought of um joining an organization that this is something not not to make a material sort of calculation that yeah i need that support and i should do it but actually just from the glow when you’re speaking it means a lot more obviously in terms of your sense of who you are
And your sense of belonging in the world so and connection great felicia did you want to share anything else about um the importance of these organizations in your life absolutely um it was like them like everyone else has said having that community my first job out of college um
When i went to my interview the person interviewing me as soon as she found out i was sigma gamma rho because i had it on my resume she was like what i’m a delta and so the conversation totally shifted and i can say she was like yeah this is no problem and
She went on to talk about sorority life and everything else um but also i think for me it drew me out of um a more introverted self that i was before because i was put in a lot of leadership roles within the sorority um in my undergrad experience so i learned to
Function as an extrovert in situations when i needed to um which has been very helpful in my life i never really thought i was introverted i just thought you know i’m quiet but people who knew me knew i wasn’t but people always thought i was shy and i never understood that but
I got it once i started um in my sorority because they put me out there they’re like okay you’re gonna do this okay we need someone to leave this here you go you got an idea great yeah you can take care of it um and i really didn’t couldn’t say no there wasn’t
That many of us for me to give it to somebody else um so it made me um come out of that some so when i needed to show my leadership skills with confidence i could and i don’t think i would have gotten that anywhere else and that continued when i
Graduated and moved to the bay area i didn’t know a lot of my sorority sisters here but they were here and i got to know them and joined the chapter here and again into leadership positions and things like that which helped me grow as an individual it helped me grow in my
Work because when we had a regional conference and we hosted i had to speak it wasn’t a choice it was something that i i had to do um and so that made me not fear speaking with people in higher up positions and leadership roles um became something that
I felt like i can handle that if i need to do that no problem um and that confidence i know definitely came from the sorority great thank you um i just want to point out that there’s such a wide range of um you know when you all encountered um
Joining an mphc so we have uh travis who was in high school right um and all the way to henderson who was a graduate student so i think oftentimes people think that maybe if you wait until your graduate student it’s too late but obviously it’s not so that’s really wonderful great great um
So now um we have questions that are specific to each of you in terms of you know the role that you serve and the work that you do um so the first question we have is for henderson so since you’re in student involvement the question is you know what does it mean
To you being a member of an nphc organization while overseeing them on campus so you’re you’re in one yourself and you’re also overseeing them and sometimes overseeing them involves a lot of um let’s say um some management and helping people make good choices and and also making sure
That that their longevity is there as well so yeah it’s go i appreciate this this question uh kathy especially over this last few years that we’ve been really working with our npac chapters here at sjsu and i right before i jumped on this call was having a conversation
With one alumni members from zeta phi beta supporting them through their intake with their undergraduate members um and so for me as someone who leads the the area that supports and works with our certain story chapters and been a member of the fraternity sorority community specifically npac specifically
My fraternity brothers kappa alpha sire here president delta rho chapter um it’s an honor privilege and i think also i think it’s a lot of pressure um but i also think it’s positive pressure and i welcome it because from the standpoint of you know the institution is what it is you know the
State of the world is what it is sometimes our black students aren’t really supported in the spaces that they need to be they aren’t held accountable in the way that they should be um i’ve told our mpa students i told our black students we do not lower the bar
Of standards we meet or exceed their standards and so that as a leader and also as a black person also a member of an mpac chapter this is not necessarily just always a resort it isn’t hey you just have it your way all that no it’s how do we
Cultivate relationships how do we cultivate engagement of learning what is the expectation what’s the accountability we’re not big you’re not babies when i baby you but how do we make sure that you have a positive experience but also knowing the expectations and so for me it’s one of those that i’ve really been
Engaged in to say hey we have a really good opportunity to really support these students and to have a sense of community and what that looks like but also as a member of the community i know what we should and should not be doing um yes i joined kappa almost 19 years
Ago but at the same time a lot of foundational stuff is still remains to be the same with kappa a lot of the same foundational stuff still remains to be the same with mphc and how we should be training for leadership now you know that’s what our models cap outside is
Training for leadership but also how are we training our mpa mpac students for leadership how are we supporting them to make sure that you yeah they’re social organizations all of that but npac organizations are also staying on the the the grounding of how do we get back
To the community these are like these are lifelong commitments i don’t you know npac you know not knocking anybody else’s affiliations but we don’t join our organizations but i’ll just do that while i’m in undergrad or i’ll just do that for a month or two they’re lifelong
Commitments and so how how are we also cultivating that to translate with our students here um i know the students probably get a little annoyed with me um but we will do we will do right we will do what we’re supposed to be doing um and we will be
Exceptional and so my responsibility since the expectation is to be exceptional that i not only as a leader stand in that gap i also expect my team to stand in that gap and the rest of the institution to stand in that gap to help students to get to to meet that
Expectation of being exceptional it’s not like hey just be exceptional just go figure it out it’s like hey be exceptional and let’s give you the tools to get there um so it’s also something i don’t i don’t take the responsibility very lightly um i probably have made some people a
Little bit uncomfortable at the institution about how are you stepping up to help our black students to be successful um what is the institution sometimes ansing up um like we want to be diverse we want to be inclusive but also where we put in our money where our mouth is and our
Resources and our time um so that’s and then also you know the reality is we have a smaller number of black students here at the institution so i’m when i sit in the spaces where their voices are not heard or they’re not sometimes thought of i always make sure that as a
Leader on this campus that i do stand in that space and do make sure that the voice of our students are not forgotten or not are not heard so hopefully that that gives a little bit of insight yeah yeah so so i’m going to go off script a little here because of
What what you just shared uh in the last thing that you said henderson and and would like to ask dr boyce to talk about um you know i think that i saw you nodding very vigorously and i know a lot of it is because of the role that you play in african-american
Studies and the importance of ethnic studies and that liberatory framework for students to discover um and so would you would you mind sharing a little bit about the importance of of voice and african-american studies and you know and and the history of um you know why is it important for us
To know the history of nphcs and what what they have done and what they will continue to do oh absolutely and again you know if i like to back up and i think it’s a great question if we think about our current this current political moment uh where
The teaching of race you know this this whole critical race theory hysteria is uh reflected in how particularly i think it’s anti-black you know this hot this whole anti-black history narrative so if we look at nphc and particularly the history of it um i think about the early 20th century so
And there’s a film called the birth of a nation that came out in 1915. and so by 1915 you had roughly six out of the nine mphc organizations already established and during this time there was this hor that horrible film reinforced this notion of jim crow of white supremacy
Uh anti-black racism anti-black violence um a sitting president of the united states um endorsed the film and so i guess what i’m trying to make here this was a reflection of what america looked like because it was it was so wildly popular that you know a city and us president
Did this and so i would often think about like what would those early founders and the early members have been thinking about um during this period when you know this film came out so when we look at this the histories of these groups so we put it in perspective we look at these
Histories of these of these organizations we have to look at we have to embed african-american history and the importance of a critical understanding of how higher education and how black students were persevering in the early 20th century like they were in the 1960s like they were
In 2020 and so you still see this continued pattern so that’s something i would i would encourage people to think about is to put things in historical perspective um if we look at my fraternity or even alpha phi alpha fraternity which were founded on at predominantly white
Institutions you know i i would be curious to know like you know how does this how did did their legacies play out 50 years later and 100 years later and we’re still seeing the same issues in this country the same racial issues on college campuses so that’s a i think
Is a way that we can look at these histories within the context of the of a very uh low period of race relations in this country these areas these early these early days in the 20th century thank you yeah yeah that’s very powerful um felicia you know talking about 100 year old
Organization so your um your sorority sigma gamma rho um is celebrating a hundred years this year what does it mean to your organization and to you as a member so as travis was speaking i was just thinking about our organization because it was founded also at a predominantly white
Institution in indiana where the kkk was headquartered and so it was at a time where you know the community had to stick together and this was a it was originally a teacher’s organization and it was to help ensure that we would have teachers in the community and it was for survival you know
You needed to get through college you needed to have a support system and so 100 years later we have the same thing we have the rise of these hate groups um and i hadn’t even thought about the context that travis was talking about but it’s so true i mean right now the
Sorority is celebrating like you would not believe there are so many events all the time constantly being planned and executed there’s going to be huge celebrations because of the perseverance of the organization um and we’re towards the end of the the group we’re like one of the babies of the group um
So all the others have had their centennials and it’s like finally our turn um so i mean there is like you wouldn’t even imagine what all of our web stuff looks like i’m just like overwhelmed by all of the celebration and activity taking place and for me i
Tend to be more reflective and i i just i feel like it is amazing to think about what we’ve been through the different issues the sorority has encountered the lawsuits we’ve made it through and times we’ve been like is this going to take down the organization no we’re surviving this and um
All of the things that we’ve tried to put in place to ensure that our membership continues to thrive um and and i’m in that place having been through some things with the sorority myself um so it’s like wow it’s an incredible moment it’s a tremendous tremendous accomplishment and i just
I’m very thankful because i feel like these women that i’m around helped me to grow up into the woman that i am and so i like feel like i need to celebrate them as well um personally and as well as the organization and i
Don’t know if i’m going to go to all the big celebrations because of covet and everything else that’s happening but i’m extremely grateful thank you um khalida i think on in this illustrious panel you are you are someone who is an advisor um to one of these organizations um
How do you see these organizations so you get more of a a very current i mean similar to henderson but as an advisor you get sort of an inside look into how important um a black sorority or a black fraternity is um to retention and a sense of belonging and well-being for
Our students can you speak a little bit about that you know i find that it’s what i even think back to my experience because i was at a pwi campus as well is that when we look at our campus climate results that a lot of our students leave
Because they don’t feel like they belong they don’t feel like a community that they’re not wanted here so i think part of that is you know having our sororities fraternities it builds that community it builds that family so they see someone who looks like them because
Even at san jose state you know when you look at the numbers there’s only about three to four percent of black african american students here on campus that’s such a small number when you think of we have over about 35 000 students that is really small so i think you know and
Then also um looking at our retention rates our graduation rates students come and they leave after one semester or leave after two semesters it could be for a number of reasons it could be financial because of where we live and it could be because i just didn’t feel at home i didn’t feel
Comfortable is that i think all of us in our positions that we are that we look to engage our students whether you join aka or you join another sorority or another fraternity is that i think we all know to reach out you know and create a welcoming place for our
Students and part of that is you know being part of a sorority i know that you know working with henderson over the years we’ve kind of gone up and down we’ve had some tribulations that you know we’re working through and we’re hoping to be at a better place
Especially you know i am the campus advisor for the akas it’s just that you know we all just want to join and be part of that whether a student joins a sorority fraternity but to feel needed and i think you know we teach that like felicia said you learn some
Skills by being in the group in the um mphc that you can teach others who may not have to join but you’re working together we’re supporting each other so definitely you know with san jose state we definitely need to work on you know retention and graduation i think part of
Belonging could be joining us to write a fraternity there right right what strikes me as you each uh talk is how much how much you’ve gotten but also how much you are connected and you give right that there’s this sense of of commitment um and i know that on on our
Campus all of you are leaders and not only um you know engaging with and inspiring and teaching and mentoring our black students but but a lot of other students as well and so when we think about high impact practices there there are sometimes people you know administrators
Um and i’m not even saying that it happens here i think sometimes it happens um subconsciously sometimes people feel like gosh these um organizations are kind of you know they’re they’re they’re um they require a lot of energy right to maintain and support and to find
Advisors and and to guide and to mentor is it worth the effort and so i’m being facetious right i mean i obviously i believe it’s really it’s really important and it’s really worth the effort um but for those folks who aren’t familiar um i think with fraternities and sororities
And how important they can be in terms of your entire career your entire academic and professional personal career um what what can you say in terms of you know closing sort of thoughts um to to those who are on our campus or other folks who are in
Higher ed who or even to families or parents or students themselves what can you say is important about these organizations and and why is it important you know what what’s so strong what’s so strong about their legacy um that still obviously thrives after over a hundred years
I think i would i would lean into a couple of pieces one piece i was like look at the look at the membership of these organization look john lewis who you quoted earlier is remember phi beta sigma like mlk martin luther king member of alpha phi alpha
Johnny cochran member of you know kappa office like i could go on and on our current vice president of the united states a member of alpha kappa don’t get me started so all of that to say that look at the long legacy that these folks have left for us
Um i think that folks who i’ll just be very transparent i’ll just be henderson who only i can be if folks are clueless they better get a clue these are organizations that not only help with some of the the tangible things that khalida mentioned earlier about retention um and sense of
Belonging for our not you know specifically our black students also our um minority students you better get a clue because what would then happen is they will start to if we don’t dig into cultivate and build that there will start those um those gaps would retention and graduation for black
Students will continue to grow if the institution doesn’t learn how to support you know henderson and student involvement can be the only ones doing it we do our piece but there has to be a village support system of how we do that um these organizations have taught so
Many things to so many people whether it’s leadership skills some of the stuff i learned from kappa um i still hold and use in my day-to-day not only with my daughter but also engaging with students engaging with colleagues how to run a meeting how to how to navigate politics
How to navigate structures um how to just be a good person um these are things when you talk about kathy high impact practices our organizations in themselves are high impact practices connected to and translating to campus universe to universities and campuses to support our students if we want to put it into that
Framework those are high impact practices in themselves because they teach what giving back to the community leadership skills engagement in and outside of the classroom so if folks are saying well what’s the purpose why should we invest hey you better do some google searches um and then also look at the community in
Which you’re in so and also that that’s my me wearing the hat of a member of a higher ed professional as a as a practitioner as an educator etc etc yeah i’m biased but also the research don’t lie so people lie but research and data don’t lie and so people to understand
Those are some things that you have to really invest in these organizations not to say they are work they do take a lot of energy but i’ve always been an advocate that you do the hard work on the front end so you’re not having to do it on the back end
Same thing with our organization so great thank you i would like to say for those who aren’t sure who don’t know if it’s worth it i think a lot of times when you only see the surface of these organizations you see stepping or you see the problems
But you have to look deeper than the surface anything worth having is worth the work and i think that when people have interactions with those of us who are members of these organizations they may not even know um that we are and it’s not until you ask
The question and until you learn more you take uh the effort and energy to learn more then that’s when you can truly see the blessing behind these groups because they are the support system for so many students when you go to black college campuses you may see huge organizations
It’s harder here in california because there are fewer of us but for those of us who do join we support our members in getting through to graduation our graduate chapters our grad members are very involved with the undergraduates because they want to see them thrive and that it’s like a built-in mentorship because
You can’t have an undergraduate chapter without a grant chapter attached to it at least in my organization we weren’t allowed to function without regular meetings with our grad chapter so they knew what we were doing they knew what what um what we were doing in terms of community
Service projects they made sure we were doing the national programs that we had to do they wanted to know what parties are coming up and are you going just to be accountable not like they were going to pop up at the party with us but they wanted to know
What’s going on in your world um there were times when we had study nights because they were like hey this is what you need to do i mean even joining my organization we had designated times when we had to study i not kid you not because people think
Oh when you’re joining you have all this i made dean’s list the semester i was online and that is the only semester i was on the dean’s list because they were like no we’re serious about you studying we’re serious about you being involved in other campus organizations um and it was
Fun but it was a lot of work too and i think um my my parents didn’t know anything about sororities and fraternities when i went to college and so they were like well if you want to do this that’s that’s on you it’s your responsibility
They wanted me to make sure i knew how to pay for it and all that stuff um and that they held me accountable to it and so i made sure that i it was something i could handle it grew me into a responsible adult and i think that that’s what the sororities
Do one of the things we ask people who are interested is do you understand this commitment that you’re making because we understand when undergraduates are coming in they’re 19 20 21 they might not get it but we want to talk to them about it so they understand and i don’t think
Undergraduates get that a lot when you’re young and you want to join something who talks to you about being responsible but that is part of the process so i think dig deeper when you’re not sure find out what these groups are about and parents can always talk to grad members to find
Out if they don’t know i talked to parents before as an advisor previously so it’s it’s definitely work like henderson said but it’s totally worth it great advice and just really quick uh just to re-emphasize my previous point um just the importance that you know mphc organizations and
Particularly eight out of the nine are a a of the jim crow era america um and at the time where african americans were barred from uh some of these mainstream organizations not just black greek not just greek letter organizations but professional societies um and what have you so you have groups
Like the american bars or the national bar association uh which is was founded um for the perfect for professional networks for african-american attorneys which still goes on the day they were found in the early 20th century so i think that historical piece is important and again i go back to
This hysteria this uh anti-black history hysteria that if we’re not careful we may lose it all here you know we so that’s something i would keep in mind that we need to keep these organizations going but we need to understand the histories that they come from yeah yeah thank you thank you khalida
You know i would say and it’s probably cliche when i think of you know when you have that hear that saying about too much is given much is expected so you know you think of the college life you know it’s not school days the movie i just referenced that because i saw it
The other day on tv but you know yes you can have fun at that level but then there’s business to be done you know whether you’re on the college campus and once you get you know into your career at the graduate level whether it’s in higher ed you’re in the
Community we’re helping we’re reaching back you know to bring people forward to bring our students forward you know i part of what i do the grad chapter we have a black college awareness you know the engaged students you go to black college but it’s not the only college
You can go to there’s california schools that are just as good but it’s just i’m learning i have to do more i can’t just stop with me i can’t just be about yeah my aka my job’s done no it continues you know we continue to work together we
Continue to support the community and the higher education whatever we can do so it’s just ongoing just never ending and but i enjoy the work and as long as you know you’re in a community it’s a group it’s not just you you have others that you can work with even what we do
On campus it’s not just one single person we’re doing it together yeah wow um you know we’re coming to the end um of our of our um interview and i just wanted to thank all of you um and uh you know i’m just uh inspired and in awe and really
Appreciate i think the inside look you’ve given um about how um how mpc has impacted your lives and the lives of other people and it gives us a glimpse i think of the importance of supporting these organizations but also i’m just so um happy that we’re able to
Learn about about something about you and that our campus and other people that are viewing this we’ll learn a little bit about you that maybe they didn’t know um but i’m also mindful of the of the theme um for this year um for black history month which is um
Black health and wellness and i can’t imagine that the things that you have said and that you’ve shared in these experiences and what nphd organizations have done for you does not contribute greatly to long-term wellness and health and and we know that those are both tied right physical health health and
Everything is also tied to mental wellness and so thank you so much for all that you do i know that you know i know that um all of you are exhausted just like i am in other people because we’re all working hard and we’re in that that liminal
Space of um you know covered numbers going down and returning to campus but still mitigating and so i know that there are hybrid spaces that you’re trying to negotiate like everybody else and so really appreciate the time and effort that you spent um spending this hour with us
And sharing um deeply you know for our community so thank you so much um proud to be your colleague on campus okay thank you appreciate it y’all it’s good to see you all right have a great day You
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