The Black Student Union BSU held its weekly meeting on Sept. 8 in the Memorial Union Underground from 7-9 p.m. BSU is a student organization that provides a supportive environment for minorities to express themselves and discuss important issues, fostering leadership and a positive black culture experience on and off campus.

Cinai Anderson, junior forensic science major, is the club president and described the event as a safe space to allow participants to share their personal backgrounds, including wealth, sexual orientation, gender, religion, race, ethnicity and disability. The meeting goal was to ensure everyone felt heard and to foster a sense of closeness among the participants.

“Today’s main goal of the meeting was getting everybody the time to talk about like their personal backgrounds,” Anderson said. “We would talk about their wealth, sexual orientation and gender, religion, race and ethnicity and disability has given everyone a chance to be heard, and so we can feel like everyone just makes sure that everybody can be heard and talk about these things that make us bring us closer together.”

Joshua Guthrie, junior radiology major, is a member of the BSU and shared his appreciation for the safe and inclusive environment provided for students of all minority backgrounds.

“I think we do a really good job here at providing a space for students to be interactive in the community, providing feedback to the community, volunteering and helping others grow 

within our own community,” Guthrie said.

Julissia Rogers, freshman nursing major, attended her second meeting of the BSU and learned about her self-worth as a black person. She found the BSU is beneficial for learning about black culture, gender issues and stated that she is open to joining future meetings and events.

“I learned as a black person, I’m worth more than what I feel like I am,” Rogers said. “Black Student Union is actually a good group to be as a black person, because you can learn more about your culture or your color or your race and probably more like gender type.”

The meetings occur every Monday from 7-9 p.m. in the Union underground, and are open to all who support diversity and love. 

Edited by Arohi Rai and Stuti Khadka