African American Affairs aiming to unify students at MSU

On Jan. 19, there was a takeover at MavAve. 

Students from African American Affairs, Asian American Affairs and American Indian Affairs took over the area and introduced themselves to new students, explaining their goals and sharing gifts with guests. 

According to BalenciaSariah Crosby, Interim Director of African American Affairs, they are working closely with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

“We run parallel programs, sometimes even co-produced programs in advance for students along with Asian American Affairs and American Indian Affairs. So we are very close to the Multicultural Center upstairs,” said Crosby.

The organization’s tasks are to help and advise students who seek support in different aspects of their college experience. 

“I support the organization and help students make some decisions, minor decisions. Any students who walk through my door or Multicultural Center at large will be serviced. That’s why we are here for the institution,” said Crosby. “We have all those different ports of connection so if we don’t know the answer we do our very best to give a student information that they need.”

Moreover, African American Affairs wants to create a safe space for not only specific populations within the university, but for every student at Minnesota State.

“We do try to do our very best to create programs within African American Affairs and the other areas, affinity groups if you will, that cater to our different specific populations but it’s open to everyone because we recognize that all of our allies don’t look like us,” said Crosby.

The goal of the recognized organization is to bring together the community of African American students and unify other groups by sharing their culture.

“I am doing my very best, along with some phenomenal graduates and one new undergraduate assistant to work to unify. And I say that not to try to create the impression that it’s not already unified, but you know how you’re making a quilt, right, metaphorically speaking? And you want to bring together these different patterns and things. I want to help to bring together the fabric of the black community at MSU,” said Crosby. “We want to share that in a way that will help to benefit and improve the culture of the college at large.”

Students who want to contribute and connect with African American Affairs can connect with them via social media or by attending one of several events this semester.

“Contribute in the sense of attending programs, supporting, and interacting with us on social media. There is always something going on,” Crosby said.

MavAve was taken over by a multitude of organizations Thursday to promote students to join their clubs. Interim Director of African American Affairs BalenciaSariah Crosby promoted events coming up spring semester. (Lilly Anderson/The Reporter)

Write to Amalia Sharaf at amal.sharafkhodjaeva@mnsu.edu