Students from LSU, Southern University and Baton Rouge Community College watched dancers, listened to speeches about getting involved and celebrated the new semester on Thursday night at the African American Cultural Center’s Harambee 2012 event.
Students cheered Katrice Albert, vice provost for Equity, Diversity and Community Outreach, after she told them to use this year to join student organizations. Albert also urged students to be active in politics this presidential election year.
“No matter your political affiliation, I challenge you to be civically engaged, be politically involved, and be counted: that means go to the polls and vote,” Albert said.
Students applauded the several performances on stage. Jonosha Jackson, an English senior, recited a poem with religious lyrics to students. LEGACY dancers, MLK Dance Ensemble and LSU NPHC Unity Step also performed dance routines at Harambee.
K.C. White, associate vice chancellor and dean of students, praised students for volunteering at medical special needs shelters when Hurricane Isaac battered the Gulf Coast. White said within 30 minutes after sending the volunteer request email, students told them to “put us to work.”
“Over 200 students registered into the volunteer database as we responded to Hurricane Isaac,” White said.
Student Government President Taylor Cox told students Harambee was about coming together, and the University is a “melting pot, a population of incomparable individuals who have been able to overcome challenges and obstacles.”
“You must always treat people with dignity and respect, even if you do not know them and even if you do not agree with them,” Cox said, quoting First Lady Michelle Obama’s words at this week’s Democratic National Convention in North Carolina.
Troy D. Allen, associate professor at LSU and Southern University, drew applause from students as he appeared dressed in a traditional African robe given to him to acknowledge his rite of passage as an honorary chief of a Ghana village.
Allen discussed how students years ago held sit-in protests to improve the University’s diversity and how their efforts improved opportunities for everyone at LSU. However, Allen told students that making A’s was the most “radical thing” you can do at LSU.
“It was in this structure and in this environment that Harambee was formed: it was a coming together of students who found themselves in a similar situation as you will as you begin to take on this Academic Hunger games,” Allen said.
Students congregate in the Student Union following Harambee on Thursday evening.
