Next tonight it was more than a year ago when leaders at uw-madison broke ground on a new big project a plaza to honor the legacy of the university’s black fraternities and sororities today that project is finally completed samantha banish joins us now with much more friends alumni and supporters came out
To celebrate this historic achievement but organizers say that this is just the first step in increasing black visibility on campus today we’re here celebrating a really big moment really for the campus and for the black greek community when israel obi was a freshman at uw-madison he felt out of place it felt
Kind of lonely and i didn’t really have a support system it was then that he discovered the kappa alpha psi fraternity a black greek organization they just really brought me in and were really kind to me the legacy of black sororities and fraternities has gone largely unknown at uw but today that changed
It means a lot that we finally get something like this on campus to finally represent who we are nine plaques set up in the heart of campus were unveiled to members alumni and staff on the plex we will see history of when we were founded nationally which is early 1900s they represent our
Time and commitment to this campus and to especially our organizations it took 75 years to have physical representation of these organizations on campus it is critical that this campus creates spaces where people can see themselves and be themselves but now they are able to have their
Voices heard but this is a great chance for the university to kind of show we do know you we do see you and you are cared for and the legacy of these organizations are on display for every student who passes by you know we worked hard to improve our
Visibility on campus and now we have a big thing here of visibility so a freshman never has to feel unwelcome or unseen again i’m glad that my future members any future members of npht get to experience this on this campus this project has been three years in the
Making organizers tell me that they’re excited for the lasting impact it will have on campus
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