BSU, a U-Wide Council with minimal BBC presence

Brandon Wright/Contributing Writer

Having been reclassified as a University-wide council within recent years, the Black Student Union is one of five governing councils that are responsible for garnering the interest and support of the student body.

As a University-wide council, BSU has been active at Biscayne Bay Campus in the past, but has had a limited presence there this semester, aside from general meetings and the BSU State of the Union Address on Sept. 15.

“BSU is really trying to be active this year,” said Brad Owiye, BBC interim governor of BSU. “In the past years, we weren’t as active as we would like to be, and this year we are really pushing for more active participation from not only students but BSU as a council itself at BBC.”

Owiye said the organization tries to “increase awareness among our students, whether it be culturally, socially, academically [or] financially.”

At the Oct. 26 Student Government Council at BBC General Meeting, Panther Power President Tamicha Roger asked Owiye, “Will there be any BSU events going on at the Biscayne Bay Campus anytime soon?”

Owiye alluded to the spring 2012 semester, which features Black History Month in which BSU is an active participant, but did not mention any specific events for the current semester.

However, it was mentioned by Student Programming Council President Catherine Vega that SPC and BSU are collaborating on a guest lecture titled, “How Good Is Sex” by Devin Robinson on Nov. 2

But as BSU President Jerron Johnson admits, the biggest challenge with bringing not only BSU events, but events as a whole to BBC, is garnering interest from the student body.

“It’s not that in the past [BSU] has neglected BBC. Some students just don’t come to events at BBC,” said Johnson.

Information regarding future meetings can be found on its Facebook page, as well as the BSU presidential address. Later on in the academic year, BSU plants to host events for Black History Month at both campuses, as well as the presentation of Mr. and Miss BSU Pageant.

With the organization’s intent to spread the word at BBC, its main focus is to make sure that BSU has a presence at both campuses, Johnson said.

Students can join BSU by registering through OrgSync.com. To be an active member, students must attend five meetings, or three consecutive meetings, throughout the semester and take part in one event committee.

Additional reporting by Jonathan Szydlo.