Boston Black Students Network Relaunched

Representatives of black student organizations at 11 Boston area colleges gathered last night at the first meeting of the newly restarted Boston Black Students Network (BBSN)—a loose coalition of black campus groups around Boston.

Students discussed their visions for the network as a whole and shared strategies for how to organize individual campus organizations.

The coalition was originally formed by two students in 1996 to increase communication between black student groups, but never got off the ground.

Brandon A. Gayle ’03, the president of Harvard’s Black Students Association (BSA) has led the effort to bring the BBSN back.

“I feel that we can do some very positive things on our respective campuses, in the Boston area, at the national level, and at the global level,” Gayle said in his welcoming speech to the nearly 50 representatives at the meeting. He said the group had the potential to create a needed sense of community among related groups.

“In the past there has been—I don’t want to say tension—but non-cohesion between the different groups in the area,” Gayle said.

Many students emphasized the importance of bringing black students together across campus lines.

“Just seeing a place with so many black students together can be very empowering,” said Khalilah Duncan, a Wellesley College representative.

Student representatatives used most of the meeting to discuss their ideas for the role of the BBSN—ideas that ranged from a loose coalition to publicize events to a more active independent organization.

One student compared the BBSN to a family with each group working independently, while supporting the other groups involved.

Organization representatives agreed that the BBSN could be most effective in facilitating student involvement in public service.

“None of our organizations were established to throw parties,” Gayle said, emphasizing that the BBSN needed have a public service as well as a social aspect.

Several members suggested that the BBSN organize a kickoff day of service to build community within the network and get the memberships of the organizations more involved in service. Some representatives also suggested bi-weekly BBSN community service events.

“This network could go out into the Boston community and work together to do some of the initiatives we’ve been trying to do,” said Anna Johnson, who is president of Ethos, a black student group at Wellesley College.

The leaders of the different groups represented at the meeting—which varied both in size and focus as well as location—also discussed problems their organizations had faced and the difficulty of running black organizations with actively involved members.

“Apathy is the word of the day,” Gayle said, noting that the BSA has 250 members but many of them are only marginally involved in the organization.

Jonathan S. White, who is president of the historically black Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity Rho Nu chapter at MIT, urged organization leaders to work to keep members constantly involved.

“In this day and age, we don’t have the luxury to swim in pools of apathy,” White said.

Duncan, from Wellesley’s Ethos organization, encouraged other student leaders to approach members of their organizations, especially first-year students, outside of class to make connections.

The BBSN will next meet in December at Northeastern University, with the location of meetings rotating among the colleges involved.