By AILEEN BURKE News Editor & ELIZABETH LIU Contributing Writer
Empowered. Eager. Excited. These are some of the words that the representatives from Black Student Union used to describe their current work and upcoming events for the current semester.
This past Wednesday the Black Student Union held their first program of the Spring 2019 semester at 7:30 P.M. in Albertus 216 to discuss microaggressions, how they [microaggressions] present themselves, and how students can deal with them.
The students in attendance held dialogue on microaggressions in the presence of representatives from the counseling center, and Lamara J. Burgess, the associate director of Intercultural Leadership at the College of Saint Rose.
“Campus-wide dialogue surrounding diversity and inclusion is necessary,” said Burgess. “It allows students, staff, administration and faculty to discuss tough issues in a comfortable space that allows teachable moments, shared experiences, and affirmations.”
The discussion, facilitated by the Black Student Union executive board members allowed for many personal testimonies to be made, and there was a preceding role play done to exhibit how microaggressions, sometimes rather subtly, present themselves. This included examples of microaggressions both from the executive board of the Black Student Union as a way to acclimate the attendees to the nature of the material. The members of the general board also presented questions in regards to microaggressions.
“I want to spread awareness around campus,” said junior Alonzo Gardner, who is the vice president of the Black Student Union.
“This is an important dialogue to have in a college setting with a diverse group of people.” Gardner went on to say that he wants people to really understand what microaggressions are, why they are hurtful, and how they can actively be prevented on campus.
In addition to the discussion, there was a showing of a YouTube video titled “How Microaggressions are like Mosquito Bites.” The video uses the analogy of a mosquito bite to show how a microaggression can be consistently frustrating and threatening to a person’s overall health and well-being. “How Microaggressions are like Mosquito Bites” has been viewed over 179,000 times.
The importance of this conversation is widely acknowledged throughout multiple disciplines, especially at The College of Saint Rose.
“By allowing microaggressions to continue unnoticed, we are allowing the continued dehumanizing of other cultures that hold pristine value to not only our history, but our future,” said sophomore social work major Chris Weiss.
Microaggressions, by nature, are a sensitive topic to many individuals, and have genuinely long-term psychological effects on human beings. They can present in many forms. The most commonly understood and discussed are racial in attribute; microaggressions can also be gendered or aggressive towards an individual’s sexuality. Having the conversation around them is important to many of the students on campus.
“We don’t really feel nervous to bring out these discussions,” said junior Desirae Hanks, the public relations specialist for the Union. “I feel like we try and empower it as much as we can. We are going above and beyond to not just impact our peers, but [we are] impacting those with higher power that can make changes to the campus.”
When asked about what is coming up for the rest of the semester, those Union representatives the Chronicle spoke to shared readily.
“We have a lot of great events coming up. Feb.15 2019 we have a Black Hearts Jubilee,” said Hanks. “So it’s like a festival, carnival thing that is basically designed for people who are single and don’t necessarily have someone on campus as a significant other, or people who do. Just so they aren’t so lonely during Valentine’s Day. You know, the whole stigma of having to be with someone.”
