CBCSA hosts first Black Convocation
As more than 180 freshmen joined the Zoom meeting remotely from various locations, they were welcomed to USC with instant festivity as energizing songs such as “Future” by Musiq Soulchild played through their laptop speakers and a colorful PowerPoint lit up their screens. These students would make USC history as the first incoming class to attend Black Convocation.
An event dedicated to welcoming the incoming class of Black Trojans, founded in collaboration between the Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs, the Black Alumni Association, the Black Graduate Student Network and the Black Student Assembly, the ceremony was held Sunday as a means of promoting community despite the fully online semester.
In previous years, CBCSA has welcomed Black students by hosting a Labor Day barbecue. However, following the ban of on-campus events, CBCSA director Greedley Harris felt compelled to find a new way to build a sense of home for Black freshmen.
“We wanted to do something to welcome our Black students, because we weren’t doing an in-person event,” Harris said. “I think our Black students have been dealing a lot with anti-Blackness, with microaggressions, with overt and covert racism. This event was needed from a community perspective to show support and to show our incoming students who won’t have a physical place that they could go right now that there’s still community and that there’s still support.”
Kicking the event off, assistant director of the Black Alumni Association Tensie Taylor filled each student’s room with her voice as she sang the Black National Anthem.
The event featured introductions from Vice President for Student Affairs Winston Crisp and Black faculty members from various schools who welcomed the students to the University. LaVonna Lewis, associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion at the Sol Price School of Public Policy, explained the degree programs and career services the department offers.
“We recognize that we are in interesting times, conflictual times, tense times,” Lewis said. “And again, you’re entering the University. They’re struggling with those issues again, trying to make us a more just University as part of our just society. We don’t know how everything works but we do know that these are the time for good ideas, these are the times for exploring differences of opinion.”
Morgan Darby, a freshman majoring in international relations, global business who attended the event, said it helped her feel welcomed to USC despite beginning her college experience remotely.
“I got excited about being in the community even though I’m sitting in my room at home far away from USC,” Darby said. “I can probably go to anybody, any staff or any student, for help. I have a good feeling that people will be willing to help me no matter the issue.”
In a virtual tour of campus, Spencer Boras, a senior majoring in music industry, told attendees about annual events BSA typically hosts, including GearFest, a concert highlighting Black artists held at McCarthy Quad, and Mahogany Ball, a banquet for Black students.
Several student speakers also offered insight based on their experiences at USC. Co-director of BSA Jaya Hinton emphasized the strength of the Black Trojan Family and the various ways incoming Black students could find community. She cited BSA’s USCiblings program, which brings new students, both freshmen and transfers together with other Black students that have attended for at least two semesters who can help them navigate college and share advice, as one example.
“We will match you to [an upperclassman] based on your interest, or your major, or your career goal,” said Hinton, a junior majoring in business administration. “We’ll have specific competitions, meetings, interactions for you to get to know them, to have them help you navigate this new experience and just start building that support system that you absolutely need.”
Hinton also shared other organizations on campus for students to be involved in to “get connected [and] to stay connected.” Between Sisters in Solidarity, a group for Black women and nonbinary students to discuss issues impacting the community, and professional organizations under BSA like Minorities and Medicine, Hinton underscored the importance of finding a sense of belonging on campus.
“I implore you to come to BSA and to get involved in those member [organizations], to find those niche groups where you feel welcome … [by] expanding your family, expanding your network,” Hinton said.
Following Hinton’s speech, President of the Black Graduate Student Network Lawrence Rolle encouraged Black incoming freshmen to network with one another and take advantage of the resources that groups offer, such as the Black Alumni Association, which seeks to connect current and former Black students.
“Be strong in your Black community, in your Blackness and be grounded in it, and also reach out and learn from the other coaches that we have here,” Rolle said.
As a Black Alumni Association scholarship recipient, Rolle said that Black students should do their best to be involved with the Association as soon as possible, crediting it as a source of support during his time as a college student.
Athletic Director Mike Bohn also spoke at the event, commenting on recent instances of racial injustice and expressing his commitment to supporting the Black community at USC.
“We must confront dead on, together and with urgency and purpose the social injustices that are tearing our communities apart,” Bohn said. “We are all excited to continue to work with Black students and staff on sustainable and transformational initiatives to effect change at a critical time in our history.”
These remarks were followed with a musical performance by Yafeu Tyhimba, a second-year master’s student in the Thornton School of Music. He, along with other USC alumni, performed a medley of songs that incorporate various genres, such as R&B, jazz and hip-hop.
“This medley will tell the stories of desire, grief, and determination; stories that exist today in the African American experience,” read the event program.
Throughout the convocation, many speakers, such as the director of counseling and mental health at USC Student Health Dr. Broderick Leaks, offered information about access to University resources, including Disability Services and Programs and Student Health’s counseling services.
Leaks encouraged students to seek counseling and said the department makes an effort to place patients with caregivers with whom they identify.
“All of our therapists have a value and a passion for cultural competency and diversity awareness,” Leaks said. “We do know that some students have a preference to work with someone who looks like them. Just reach out if you would like any type of mental health support and that you can also make a special request to work with a therapist of color, or any identity that you’re seeking support with.”
Despite the inability to gather physically, for Darby, the event was still a positive experience.
“It was really lively,” Darby said. “I came into it thinking it was just going to be one of the general welcome events that had been going on, [but] I was pleasantly surprised.”
CBCSA center supervisor Damarea Parker said that he felt attendees were able to get what they wanted and needed out of the event with regard to both school resources and displayed community support. He said the event was a way to reaffirm to students that they belong on campus.
“It’s an event to say and to let them know that we see you … you’re here … you have value,” Parker said. “And also, you made it to USC. It means a whole lot. We’re going to make sure that you’re surrounded by a community that’s going to pour into you to make sure that you get to the goal and achieve things that you want.”
Both Parker and Harris said that they are looking forward to continuing the event as a tradition.
“We’re already thinking about next year, what we want to do, how we want to do it and just how big it can get,” Parker said. “We’re looking at it as a legacy event and really [asking] ‘How big can we make Black Convocation?’”