BSL plans a shift back to activist stance

Black Student League President Buzz Thomas said last night that the group will radically alter its current passive approach toward the administration and resume an aggressive role in fighting for black students' concerns. The shift could mark a resurgence for the campus' largest black student organization, which has in the past mobilized hundreds of black students behind it. "For the past two years we have done things the way [President Sheldon] Hackney wanted," Thomas said. "The time has come for no longer taking a passive stance and to make the University take a supportive place committed to the minority community and its diversity." Thomas said Hackney and other administrators have been unresponsive to black student demands. "I've been hearing the word 'commitment,' but I'm seeing no actions that demonstrate it exists," Thomas said. "[The administration] uses a quick fix in dealing with students." Thomas said that over the past year the group has tried to work with administrators behind closed doors, responding to administration criticism of previous leaders' combative tactics. Assistant to the President William Epstein declined to comment last night on Thomas' announcement of a new BSL stance. But he said he does not think the administration was critical of former BSL leaders. "I don't see it's the place of the administration to place its judgment on how the BSL is run and I don't think we do frankly," Epstein said. Thomas' statement recalls the bitterness the BSL displayed in earlier years. Previous leaders, including former BSL President Melissa Moody and United Minorities Council Chairperson Travis Richardson, have led black students by taking radical anti-administration stances during their concurrent terms. In the past several years, the BSL denounced the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity for having black strippers at a rush event, brought controversial speakers from the Nation of Islam to campus, and, by strong pressure on the administration, helped to institute the diversity education program. Because the administration refused to make the program mandatory, Moody and Richardson quit the diversity education committee. For the past year, the BSL has taken a far less vocal approach to expressing the concerns of black students. But Thomas has said throughout the semester that he is willing to take a more radical approach if the need arises. And last night he said the time for a new approach has come. The BSL last night issued a statement criticizing President Sheldon Hackney for forbidding the removal of fraternities in the diversification of Locust Walk. "Due to the constraints placed upon the committee, the good faith of President Hackney must be questioned on this issue," the statement reads. "We urge the exploration of all options without giving special consideration to the fraternity system." Thomas said the organization plans to concentrate on a few specific issues this semester, but said BSL members have not yet chosen the issues. As a first step, he said, the BSL will draft letters to the administration and pass around petitions during the first week of December to further the group's cause. Thomas said some issues that concern black students are diversity education, minority attrition and retention, campus atmosphere and minority funding. Thomas received support last night from other minority leaders, who said the administration often overlooks minority concerns. UMC Chairperson Nalini Samuel said she will support the BSL's movements towards actively fighting for minority students' needs. "President Hackney is basically a puppet on a string," Samuel said. "If he is responding to pressure, then maybe we ought to apply some of our own." "People tend to ignore you when you just ask but they listen when you scream," the UMC head added. Black InterGreek Council Chairperson Kathryn Williams, who served on the BSL steering committee under Moody, said the organization has undergone some changes in the past year, centering around "trying to heal ourselves." Williams said the BSL's focus has been on strengthening structures within the organization and within the black community at the University. But Williams also said that the past year's lack of support from the administration, has forged the way for a new method of action. "We've been working affirmatively and it hasn't gotten our needs met," Williams said. "Now we have to make the University take responsibility for taking care of members of our community."

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