By Brienna Williams | When Senior Kinesiology major Cecil Banks saw the lack of representation that minority groups have on Howard Payne’s campus, he decided to start the Black Student Association to give minority students a place to feel understood and find representation. Banks’ and others’ vision and heartbeat was to create a place for students to feel understood and heard; to come together to ask the hard questions and solve problems.
“When people don’t ask questions, they make assumptions and those assumptions are what cause racial conflict,” Banks stated.
The BSA begins every meeting with a meet and greet time, allowing everyone the chance to get to know each other, they then open up the floor for questions. The organization hopes to bridge the gap between differing cultures on campus.
“Almost half of our student body is made up of minority students and one of the largest and most prominent minority groups is black students,” he said.
The organization exists to bring representation to the African American population on campus, however, the organization is open to everyone and hopes to be an advocate for all minority students.
“We hope that all students, professors and HPU faculty feel welcome to our meetings. We want to be involved in every aspect of campus. Once we do that, we’re able to reach all of campus and then people will know what we’re about. We’re not just the BSA, we’re for all students,” Banks said.
The BSA is looking forward to an exciting year of building the foundation of the organization, bringing in new members and increasing its involvement among the student body.
Keep an eye out for upcoming BSA events to include the Powder Puff Tournament and the Mo Town Get Down, an 80s- and 90s-themed lip sync battle.