The Black Student Alliance selected its 2015-16 executive board Tuesday in an election held in Gibson Hall.
Second-year College student Aryn Frazier was elected to serve as the organization’s next president. Third-year College student Alex Huff-Reynolds was elected as vice president and second-year College student Khadijah Vasser was elected to the chief financial officer position.
Eighteen candidates ran for 11 executive positions, including president, vice president, chief finance officer, secretary, political action chair, director of membership, director of programming, marketing chair, leadership development chair, academic and career development chair and historian.
Third-year College student Kelsey Watkins was elected as director of membership. Diana Wilson and Magdalene Kwakye, both first-year College students, were elected as the organization’s new directors of programming. Second-year College student Destiny Dobbins was elected the new academic and career development chair and Bryanna Miller and Devin Rossin, both first-year College students, were elected leadership development chairs. The new marketing chair is second-year College student Chadia King, and second-year Batten student DeAnza Cook was elected as the incoming historian.
BSA Executive Board, 2015-2016
Source: BSA at UVa
Huff-Reynolds said BSA saw a fairly competitive presidential election this year.
“It is a contested election,” Huff-Reynolds said. “There are four people running [for president] this year and three of us have held executive positions in the club before.”
Frazier outlined her plans for the upcoming year in her speech.
“My three main focus points for the upcoming school year would be to improve the black experience and create a vibrant, active black community, to build coalitions that push forward our agenda items to improve the University, and to expand our reach past the grounds of U.Va. and into the Charlottesville community and the state of Virginia,” Frazier said.
When asked to detail the responsibilities of the office, outgoing President Joy Omenyi, a fourth-year College student, emphasised the importance of clarity both between different members in the organization and well as between BSA and the University.
“I would say the biggest responsibility for the president is often you have to work very diligently to make sure your organization actually looks like what you’re doing,” Omenyi said.
She also stressed the importance of having a well-rounded president.
“For me the most important part of the president is that your experience can’t be pigeonholed into one thing,” she said. “So you can’t just be all about finance and be president, because you won’t know what’s going on in regards to political development or community action or something like that. You have to be very well-rounded.”
All four presidential candidates emphasized a need for more communication and transparency between officers and regular members within BSA.
“I want to increase transparency between the executive board and general body. If you don’t know what we’re doing then we’re not doing our job,” Watkins said.
Watkins also called for more clarity within the organization, calling for a definite set of guidelines for active membership within BSA.
Huff-Reynolds said BSA should expand its website as well as reinvigorate its Black Ambassadors program.
“We want to make sure we have access on the [BSA] website to internships and scholarships that black students can find accessible,” she said. “We also want to make sure the Black Ambassadors program is picked back up.”
The Black Ambassadors Program, according to BSA’s website, is “an initiative dedicated to facilitating increased interactions with prospective black high school students and their families in Virginia and the neighboring areas.”
Frazier said one of her main goals as president is to promote a sense of unity and belonging within the organization’s members.
“I know just how great BSA can be, and we need to ensure that all members of our community have the chance to experience the camaraderie I have come to know and love,” she said.
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