By Jake Gramanz, Contributing Writer
On Saturday, the Black Student Union (BSU) held a legacy panel featuring old alumni, current members, and leadership students to discuss the past and future of the BSU at Gettysburg College.
The panel included Unique Patterson ’10, Michelle Hughes ’87, former BSU President Britney Brunache ’22, current BSU President Jessica St. Louis ’23, Vice President Malayzha Watson ’23, and Treasurer Devon Stennett ’24.
Discussing the BSU of the past, alumni members collectively agreed that the organization was their Gettysburg family to them, and it was a way to remain in touch with their community on a predominantly white campus. While participating members all came from very different geographical and ideological backgrounds, that did not diminish their ability to come together when they needed to most.
Vince Costello ‘07 said, “BSU kept everybody together with small gatherings on weekends. We would get dinner together and just talk, sometimes spending three hours in Servo just being together. It’s the small stuff.”
Hughes shared a unique perspective as a Black woman on Gettysburg’s campus, saying, “Black women on campus had ‘hair circles’ to quickly do each other’s hair so we could make it to events on time. It was a way for us to bond together.”
These recollections of the past of BSU truly show how valued the organization is and what makes it such a necessity for Black students on campus.
The panel then opened to questions from the floor, mostly pertaining to the future of BSU and how alumni can support the organization as it moves forward. Many alumni members voiced concerns about planned events being canceled such as the step show, which many of the alumni remember fondly.
The current leadership explained that they lack proper alumni examples in planning such events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
St. Louis said, “Because of the COVID pandemic we never got to see how these events are properly run. We had our first real experience on campus last year, so trying to put on events that we have never seen run was extremely difficult.”
The alumni and current BSU decided to be in direct communication with one another over planned events more often in order to solve this problem.
The panel continued with a discussion about contentious incidents of racism on campus and how the college has handled them. While the incidents remain a topic that BSU wishes to keep private, both alumni and current leadership voiced heavy concern for not only the multitude of incidents but also the lack of an appropriate response from the College.
Alumni recounted incidents of extreme violence they endured during their time on campus. During an art demonstration in the 1980s, for example, a guest artist was going to hang a Confederate flag in a noose on campus but received threats from the KKK. Alumni said that Gettysburg College was very active during this incident, going so far as to get the FBI involved.
But the times have changed, it seems, as BSU leadership believes that the College has failed them.
“They did not do their jobs, they did not keep us safe,” St. Louis said.
She shared that not only did the College limit Campus Safety hours but there was also an absence of a response or follow-up from staff when they were confronted with reports of these incidents.
BSU wants to see the College amend policies for Campus Safety to respond more directly to racially motivated incidents. They also asked for clearer ways to communicate with the appropriate college staff so Black students on campus don’t feel so ignored when reporting these issues.
The panel concluded with St. Louis stating, “The BSU is building the foundation for the next executive to be even better.”
