The Talon staff sat down with Alexandra Stewart, a member of Oklahoma Christian University’s Black Student Union (BSU), to discuss the BSU’s plans for the new school year and a petition BSU members brought to university administrators last semester requesting more diverse faculty.
What made you want to get involved with the BSU?
“I moved back to America specifically to hang out with black people. I grew up in Austin—there’s none there—and I’m half white. I moved to Britain, and there’s only white people there. I felt like I was missing out on half of my heritage. I moved back here and found out there was a BSU—perfect.”
What should students know about the BSU?
“Anybody can come. A lot of people think, ‘I’m not black, don’t talk to me about it,’ but it’s for anybody.”
Last semester, members of the BSU sent a petition to Oklahoma Christian’s administration, asking for more diversity among faculty. What steps did you take to get the petition going, and how do you believe it impacted the future of campus?
“The petition we started, it came off the back of the Civil Rights Tour. We came back and had learned so much that we had no idea about, and we’re black. My grandma would sit us down and talk to us about how she lived through the Civil Rights Movement, but some people, especially who aren’t black, wouldn’t be exposed to any of those things. If you don’t know about your history, you’re doomed to repeat it. We need to make people aware of the history and what happened to people, what people actually went through.
We said to ourselves, ‘There should be a class.’ There isn’t a class, and one of our professors piped up and said we should start a petition. I went and typed a petition and printed it out that afternoon. Almost everybody we asked signed it.
Having more black faculty is going to make more people of color feel like this is a place where black people can be. That’s going to impact the future of students who will enroll. Knowledge is power, so it’s going to give people more power to affect their communities and belong to the world outside of OC. I feel like, specifically for the BSU, the tone has changed. People seem more excited about it, more willing to get involved.”
It was announced at the beginning of the school year that Robert Edison will arrive next semester as a visiting professor teaching African American studies. What do you think he’ll bring to campus?
“Just his presence will be a foot in the door. We have Gary, but that’s just one guy. You have two now, that’s almost a crowd. The more brown faces on campus, the more brown faces will feel like they belong here, and more might show up. People may feel more comfortable. If you have people from any culture, you add a new perspective to life.”
What should students know about Robert Edison?
“He was one of the OC 18. I met him; he’s really nice. He’s an educator, really legit.”
Are you satisfied with the steps the administration took after you sent the petition?
“Yeah. I remember meeting with Dr. Lamascus. He was really excited. I found him the other day and thanked him for following through on this.”
Has the school made it easy to talk about things that should change on campus?
“It’s not an easy subject. It’s not going to be easy. I feel like President deSteiguer is really purposeful about making those spaces. I feel like there’s lots of purposeful effort there, which I appreciate.
Like the LGBTQ situation, there’s a lot of stuff that needs to change surrounding the attitudes of the actual people who attend OC, in my opinion. Efforts are being made, and that’s amazing, but we’re not perfect. We’ve got a way to go, but we’re on our way.”
What big projects is the BSU working on this year?
“We have new leadership, and we’re working on making BSU more present. There’s more activities and things going on and more connections. Personally, I’m passionate about community and support within a community. Ideally, I would love for the BSU to be a place you can go to for support. Life is hard, so be each other’s support and have fun doing it.”
What kind of legacy do you hope to leave for Oklahoma Christian?
“I would like to leave it better than I found it. I feel like with the petition and stuff, I’m happy with that. That’s something. Something happened, and I’m quite proud of that. I want to leave it more unified than when I came.”
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