On Oct 31. in the Community Commons, the Black Student Alliance (BSA) held a Halloweekend Kickoff. They provided Jimmy John’s Sandwiches, cupcakes and apple cider.
The event started with a costume contest where they selected three winners who each took home a stuffed animal. Then followed a game of Family Feud; there was more discourse about the answers on the board than actual answers being suggested. There were disagreements about cats and dogs being the most popular Halloween costume, Abraham Lincoln being a “Civil Rights Icon” and pretzels and fruit being considered one of the worst “candies.”
“I feel like we’re not following the rules and the categories are vague and interesting,” Elana Yu, a first-year biological sciences major said.
Many accused the president of adding his opinion, but BSA President Leo Sheff claimed that all the answers were “…based on online research.”
The reason that BSA decided to hold a “Halloweekend Kickoff” is because many of the Black students on campus have not been able to celebrate Halloween in a full-blown nature due to cultural or economic differences.
BSA aims to help raise awareness about the Black student population among non-Black students at the University of Denver. They focus and work on advocacy, including writing letters to the chancellor and meeting with the Student Admissions Office, the vice-chancellor of BIPOC students and the director of the Cultural Center to talk about the Black student experience at DU. BSA wants Black students to feel comfortable and have fun.
“Black people on this campus deserve to feel happy and have fun. I don’t think there’s always a designated space for that considering that it is a PWI,” MJ Allen, a fourth-year fine arts major and BSA’s publicist mentioned.
Their goal this year is to elevate the Black experience at DU by creating a space for them to thrive and pushing for institutional change at the university for BIPOC students.
Check out BSA’s Instagram and Crimson Connect pages for more information on their upcoming events.
