MSA lends support to LBC
Published Sept. 26, 2006
The Legion of Black Collegians plans to launch a campaign to increase the organization's budget to meet part of the List of Demands.
The 10 Demands Special Committee discussed the plans during a meeting Monday at the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center.
LBC issued a List of Demands to Chancellor Brady Deaton in March of 2005 to highlight changes it would like to see in effect on campus for black students.
LBC will present its 60-page budget proposal to the Student Fee Review Committee, said 10 Demands Special Committee Chairwoman Bianca Tillard-Gates.
LBC President Jabari Turner said he did not want to comment specifically on how LBC would use its possible increased budget until it is officially presented.
"The events and programs that have been outlined are very important and will affect the entire MU community," he said.
MSA Operations Committee Chairman Jonathan Mays, Multicultural Issues Chairwoman Sameera Ali and Executive Assistant on Diversity Issues Kelley Robinson represented MSA's resolution in support of LBC's efforts at the 10 Demands Committee meeting.
On Sept. 22, MSA approved a resolution to support renaming the General Classroom Building after Arvarh E. Strickland, the university's first black full-time faculty member. Naming a campus building after a prominent black figure would meet another of LBC's demands.
Mays said he hopes the support between the two organizations will facilitate further cooperation.
"The LBC and the MSA don't have the best history of working together, and it's not something that's going to change over one bill," Mays said. "The last couple of years, it has ranged from polite but not substantive to non-existent. We are hoping to build the first real relationship with LBC in several years."
Turner said the majority of what MSA is doing is supporting LBC in its quest to meet the demands.