Black Onyx is the Black Student Union (BSU), who collaborated with K.I.N.K.S, RADIUS, AL- Arabiyya, S.A.S.A., African Unity, and the Student Association this week for #C4 week.
According to Tina Ouedraogo, BSU member, the Challenge College Culture Campaign was created in order to provide information to PSUC about what the community and students need.
“It is to create new ideas and give different perspectives of what a college can do to improve,” Ouedraogo said.
#C4 week is the Challenging College Culture Campaign.
“It’s to entice conversations that are usually complicated or uncomfortable for people to talk about,” former BSU board member Victoria Downers said.
The first day of #C4 week was called Does Plattsburgh have Culture. This event was a collaboration between BSU, K.I.N.K.S, RADIUS, AL-Arabiyya, S.A.S.A., African Unity, and the Student Association. The event focused on how PSUC differentiates from other college campuses.
“We want to explore Plattsburgh’s college culture and what our school does as a whole,” Ouedraogo said.
“Let’s Talk About It” was a collaboration with the RADIUS organization. Day two of #C4 week focused on the lack of LGBTQ conversations and emphasizing the need to have more discussions about LGBTQ to ame the conversations comfortable for everybody.
This event was called “Is There a Balance?” The conversation was focused on the mental health of college students trying to find a balance. The conversation included social life, professors, classes, and other events.
Day four was a collaboration with Faculty and Staff. This event was called “Is PSU For You?”.The event is a breakdown of how each student who attends the event feels about the school from freshman year to senior year. “too come to a conclusion and just talk about how you feel about the school”, said Ouedraogo.
The final day of #C4 week is called “The Block Party (Unity BBQ)”. The BBQ was implemented to be around a relaxing environment after relishing in a full week of informational events.
“#C4 week is intended for people to think more in depth about how others identify themselves. We shouldn’t live in a community where we say we live in a diversified world because of that is the current trend,” Downers said.
“We want to create different perspectives of what a college campus should improve based on the advancements of our society,” Ouedraogo said.
President of BSU Mammie Bah stresses the importance of collaborating with different organizations to help identify the social issues many people face. Collaborations helps extend the message to another audience that can help bring attention to the glaring issues in society.
“This project challenges what is provided: physically, emotionally, and socially. If this is done every year, the voices of students and faculty are heard,” Bah said.
“The message #C4 week is sending is to learn about one another on a caring and loving level,” Downers said. “We’re supposed to care about one another’s struggles with genuine care, not just because diversity has been a ‘trend’ on campus.”
Email Isaiah Bermudez at news@cardinalpointsonline.com
