BU Today Feature: Connecting Students of Color
The Minority Connection Initiative, a student-led organization, seeks to foster bonds between BU undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and staff of color. In this profile from BU Today, we hear from several of our minors, including MCI president Hodan Hashi (CAS ’20) and MCI Vice President Bejeana Breneville, as well as Director Louis Chude-Sokei.
Here’s a sneak peek of the article:
Earlier this semester, the Minority Connection Initiative invited many of these groups, as well as others, to its first Students of Color Welcome Celebration—a night of networking, group information signups, speakers, and food.
“We all support each other, and we’re all somehow intertwined… Everyone look around at all these people—they are going to help you. That is the point of MCI,” Minority Connection Initiative vice president Bejeana Breneville (COM’19) told the gathering. She urged the student groups in attendance to collaborate with one another.
“This event really signals BU’s commitment to redefining itself not just through intellectual and academic excellence, but also through diversity and inclusion,” said Louis Chude-Sokei, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of English, the director of BU’s African American Studies Program, and holder of the George and Joyce Wein Chair in African American Studies. “As undergrads, I understand the world is against you, nobody cares, the system is oppressing you, etc. I got it, I was there too. But you have to understand, there are individuals at this University at a very high level who have been hired to make things otherwise. A lot of them are here tonight.”
Read more on BU Today’s website!