Bolinga Black Cultural Resource Center | Photo by Daniel Delgado | The Wright State Guardian
February is Black History Month and students have opinions about the representation of minorities across campus.
Resources
One of the biggest resources for black students on campus is the Bolinga Black Cultural Resource Center.
According to the Interim Director of Bolinga, Tonya Mathis, Bolinga currently has a program called Ujima as a form of support for first-year students.
“So it’s a mentoring program with their students or with peer mentors,” said Mathis. “It’s really to provide support for students who are of African or African American descent.”
Many students value Bolinga and all that it does for the university.
“I’m a big supporter of Bolinga. I think it’s imperative that we have it,” said Savannah-Rae Jackson, president of Black Women Striving forward. “Especially because of the programs that it offers and for first-generation black students and for freshman black students. I think it’s a great resource so I’m a big advocate for it.”
The Bolinga Black Cultural Resource Center is currently between directors. Both Mathis and Chris Hogan, the previous director, declined to comment on the situation.
Representation
Other students feel as if Wright State could do a better job representing the diverse population of the school.
An anonymous student has concerns about representation within sororities on campus being culturally diverse.
“You see so many sororities and stuff like that that actually take the front of everything when it comes to representing who Wright State is,” said a senior criminal justice major.
Another student further elaborated on the topic saying that WSU should be seeking out those culturally diverse students to further involve them within the community.
“I think to elaborate on what she’s saying, we have so many diverse groups. I think the school should go to them for sources on how to bring them out,” said an anonymous business major.
Push and pull
Equality has come a long way since the civil rights movements of the 1940’s, but there are still ways to go.
“As a collective, I feel like we are just constantly in this push and pull,” said Jackson. “There’s just always going to be a constant fight that I’m going to have to fight. Specifically, with Black Women Striving Forward, we have these intersections that set us back in society and so all of our identities accumulated is going to be some form of pushback from the majority.”
There are several changes within the university that people would like to see.
Mathis would like to have a chief diversity officer for the Bolinga Cultural Center.
“That would help with recruitment and retention and not only culturally diverse students but specifically African American students and talent, as well as faculty, staff,” said Mathis.
Jackson personally would like to see more effort from the administration.
“I do see that there are strives towards doing that,” said Jackson. “And I think it’s more geared towards the students it’s less of the administration putting in the work and is more of the student population. I think it’s more of a student dynamic where, if you’re not seeing a lot of work being done from administration you’re taking into your own hands.”
