September 16, 2011

By Elise Moser

Students came together at Fall Fest on Sept. 14 in the Student Recreational Complex to learn more about minority organizations on campus.

“Fall Fest is an opportunity for minority incoming and transfer students to find out information about minority student organizations and campus and community entities that serve minority students,” Fall Fest co-coordinator Nathan Stephens said. Stephens is also the senior coordinator of the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center.

Dozens of organizations attended the event this year, including Residential Life, Campus Dining Services, the Women’s Center, the Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center and many minority-oriented organizations.

One such organization is the Mizzou Black Men’s Initiative. Founded in 2009, the group aims to offer black males an opportunity to participate in community service and academic support programs.

“MBMI was started to increase retention rates of black male students,” said Palma Hagens, an MBMI member since 2010.

According to an MBMI brochure, 67.6 percent of black male college students nationally do not graduate within six years. MBMI looks to offer black males at MU an opportunity to change that statistic.

Hagens said the group provides black males a chance to become social and academic leaders as well as immerse themselves in community service.

“It allows you to have fellowship with people like you,” Hagens said.

Similarly, the Mizzou Black Women’s Initiative offers black women on campus a chance to meet other black students.

MBWI treasurer Jazmyne Jordan said that the group is “a mentor organization helping black women become impressive on our predominately white campus.”

She also said the organization offers her an opportunity to spend time with girls in a non-competitive setting.

“I love the fact that it emphasizes sisterhood,” she said. “This really is, ‘How can we help each other become the best we can?’”

MBWI, like MBMI, offers its members the chance to participate in community service.

Several religious groups also attended the event. One of these groups, The Impact Movement, meets once a week for bible study in the BCC.

Impact handed out fliers at Tiger Walk, when freshmen ran through the columns on Francis Quadrangle. Impact representative Lysaundra Campbell said the group uses Fall Fest as another way to get its message out to minority students.

“Fall Fest is a really important way because we can sit down and have a table,” she said.

Another religious group in attendance was Alpha Theta Omega, a minority Christian sorority.

“We’re here just to minister to people and pray for them and reach out to them,” Alpha Theta Omega member Celeste Brown said.

Other organizations chose to recruit at Fall Fest because it offered an opportunity to diversify their group.

The MU Tour Team attended Fall Fest to try and spark the interest of minority students.

“We’re always looking to diversify our group of students,” Tour Team member Alexis Brown said. “We’ve never been to Fall Fest before so we thought this would be a great opportunity.”