Student elected to Big 12 Council
Feb. 22, 2008
Porscha Kirkwood, Legion of Black Collegians vice president, was elected secretary of the Big 12 Council on Black Student Government at the council’s conference this past week.
Kirkwood said as council secretary, her duties will include taking minutes at meetings and serving on the public relations committee. She said she will review applications for scholarships and awards that the council hands out.
“I’m very proud and excited for Porscha,” LBC Freshman Action Team Chairman Kevin Gray said.
The conference also featured a short speech in memory of conference founder Clarence Wine. Wine, who died in May, served as an academic adviser at MU’s Trulaske College of Business and the school’s coordinator of diversity programs.
The Big 12 Council, which includes all Big 12 Conference schools except Texas Tech University and Texas A&M University, meets four times a year, Kirkwood said. Copeland said the council members discuss any race issues happening on member campuses.
The conference, held this year at Oklahoma State University, drew about 750 students, LBC President Josh Copeland said.
He said 38 MU students and staff members attended the conference.
Copeland said the conference was educational.
“The point of the conference is to help minority students cope with everything that goes along with being part of a predominantly white campus,” he said.
Kirkwood said one of the main topics discussed was a referendum that would ban affirmative action in Missouri.
Copeland said all the schools in the Big 12 Council will hold rallies and pass out information on their campuses on April 9 to educate students about the referendum.
Copeland said the conference’s theme, “The Revival: A New Blueprint for Success” coincided with workshops that taught students how to revive their plans on campuses so they can be better leaders and students.
Student Life Director Mark Lucas said he attended because he wanted to learn more about the conference.
“The students we took down there are very, very sharp,” Lucas said. “They’re more than capable of changing our campus in a profound way.”
Lucas said the speakers offered powerful messages that he hopes students listen to.
“How can they take these meetings and change our campus for the better?” he said.
Gray ran for council president but lost the election to a student from the University of Texas at Austin, he said.
As Freshman Action Team chairman, Gray works to recruit freshmen to the program and get them involved on campus and in Columbia, he said. Gray said he wants to build up LBC and make the organization better.
Gray said he ran for council president because he felt he could take the council in a new, positive direction.
Gray commended the conference’s host school.
“Oklahoma State did a great job,” he said. “I’m very proud of our fellow Big 12 school for putting on a great conference.”
Kirkwood also praised the conference.
“It was a really good conference overall,” Kirkwood said. “A lot people took a lot of good things back from it.”
Kirkwood did not specify any specific action LBC would take as a result of attending the conference.
“Right now, with LBC, we want to re-evaluate everything before we put anything into action,” Kirkwood said.
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