Club Profile: Black Student Association
Written by Stephanie Avery
This past Sunday, Oct. 15, SCAD’s Black Student Association (BSA) hosted their first meet and greet for all the new members joining this quarter. Even in their second meeting, the club presented its members the opportunity to engage in an active conversation that promotes and supports insight into African American culture.
One of the chief aims of BSA is to give its members a chance to discuss African American heritage from many different perspectives.
“When people hear BSA, which stands for Black Student Association, people think, ‘Oh this is a club just for black people.’ That’s completely false,” BSA President Kharlybia Roane said. “We are a club for people in general who want to know more about black culture.”
At the meeting, an open discussion was held in response to questions posed by the BSA executive board. Before each meeting, the board has its own meeting in which they go over potential topics.
“I encourage them (the executive board) to think of ideas, questions or topics that you want to hear,” Roane said.
For example, a primary concern for Roane is how members of BSA, and the black community in general, can learn more about their culture or their heritage without proper education or resources.
The purpose of the questions is that members walk away with something they haven’t gotten anywhere else. The discussion was insightful and the questions inspired members to take an active approach to the issues.
“Inform yourself,” Roane said. “Be able to have something to walk away with. We get deep, and it’s never really like, ‘What if we step on this toe?’ Of course, you always have to think about that, but some of the questions were about making other people feel uncomfortable. Some people feel uncomfortable, but that’s a point you have to get to so they can be informed.”
SCAD BSA is very aware of the impact the group has on its college community and strives to keep it a positive one.
“Most definitely it is hard because we are already minorities you know,” Roane said. “I’m not saying that our club is looked down upon, because we have our second year in a row as club of the year, but it’s kind of like we have that for a reason.”
She explained how the club is often approached for different events that they have to turn down to uphold their image.
“You gotta make yourself look good,” Roane said. “And not only do I have to make myself look, good the club does as well.”
BSA hosts a number of their own events, but they are best known for their quarterly poetry nights.
“Poetry night is our ultimate event,” Roane said. “Poetry night is where you can come and find your soul.”
The event gives members a chance to showcase their talents whether in poetry, music or rap though they do require clean language. This quarter’s open mic night is scheduled for Nov. 3.
In winter quarter, BSA holds an additional annual event called Lights Camera Excellence in honor of Black History Month. This will be the club’s third time hosting the event, and expectations are high this year.
BSA conducts their conversation in a way that allows anyone to take a closer look into what it means to not just be a part of a specific race of people, but also a nation, and what we can do to nurture a more open acceptance of each other in both of those senses.
“I went to an arts school, but not only did I go to SCAD, the arts school, I went to an arts school that was welcoming of myself [and] my culture,” Roane said. “That’s what I want people to walk away with.”
