The Black Student Alliance held a closed meeting Monday evening regarding an open letter to OAAA circulated last week.
The letter was co-signed by six minority student groups. The other groups who signed were NAACP at U.V.a, Black Oasis for Learning and Development (BOLD), Eta Sigma Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), OneWay Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and Theta Lambda Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
“[The meeting] was pretty productive for the most part,” second-year College student Malcolm Stewart said. “[We] got a feel for [students’] perspectives and what we should do moving forward.”
During the meeting, those in attendance discussed a previously private letter Dean of African American Affairs Maurice Apprey wrote and sent to BSA President Aryn Frazier, second-year Engineering student Kayla Holston said. In the letter, Apprey expressed frustration with Frazier, a third-year College student, for not handling her concerns privately with the OAAA before writing such a public and condemning letter.
“In future then, if you read something I have written and you disagree, please talk to me directly. If you take it to the public arena, you first destroy the reputation of the person who gave it to you,” Apprey wrote in his letter to Frazier. “We must therefore remain authentic in our relations with each other. For example, if and when you quote me, use the entire passage and not half of it.”
Apprey also expressed concern some of the organizations who originally signed on to the letter may not have realized the full extent of what their signatures meant. This could, and has, led to organizations recanting their vote of support, Apprey said.
“Just thinking you have an organization’s consent does not mean you have made full disclosure as to what you are signing their name to, or, what they are agreeing to,” Apprey wrote to Frazier.
U.Va. chapter NAACP President Jenne Nurse, a fourth-year Curry student, apologized for the mode of delivery of the letter, and said she and other student leaders misinterpreted the context of the statement upon which Frazier’s letter was based.
“When we signed onto the document we were under the impression that it would be sent to each of you privately and this matter would be handled amongst those initially concerned,” Nurse wrote to Apprey. “We did not fully understand that ‘open’ meant that the letter would be sent to the greater community and University Administrators…We apologize for the effects of the Open Letter's mode of delivery [sic].”
BSA President Aryn Frazier declined to comment.
Correction: This article previously incorrectly identified Maurice Apprey as Associate Dean of Diversity, and incorrectly stated that the meeting was held between the BSA and OAAA, and that Dean Apprey was in attendance. The closed meeting was held between students of BSA and constituent organizations.
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