The Black Student Union will be holding elections today in the African American Culture Center for the offices of president and vice president. All University students can vote in the election.
The Daily Reveille has profiled the two presidential candidates today.
 
Shannon Harris
Shannon Harris, an elementary education junior and director of education and outreach for the BSU, said she wants to work to make students more aware that the BSU exists and wants to help provide more outreach to black organizations on campus.
“I want to try to bring in more black organizations and have them participate in more events and programs,” said Harris, who is also the social chair of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
Harris said she wants to offer leadership workshops for the leaders of black organizations on campus.
“People can bring [leadership] ideas back to their organizations,” she said.
Harris also said the BSU has trouble retaining members from the beginning of the year through the end.
“If we don’t have people there, we can’t have a BSU,” she said.
Harris said recruiting and retaining members should be important for BSU leaders. She said many students on campus do not realize the BSU is there or understand what it does.
She said most active members are “non-binding members” — members who do not belong to other black organizations — and she wants to increase membership numbers of students who belong to other black organizations.
“I really want to start off small with the BSU, because big ideas can’t happen if we don’t have people,” she said.
 
Gabriel Wilson
Gabriel Wilson, a computer and electrical engineering sophomore and chair of the membership committee for the BSU, said he wants to work to unify the University.
Wilson, who is also the public relations chair for Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, said the campus needs unity among blacks and all races.
As a student who takes courses at both LSU and Southern University, Wilson said he also sees the need for unity between the two universities.
“I’ve seen what the possibilities are between LSU and Southern,” he said. “I’ve seen the steps that people are taking to have a more unified LSU, and I’m in the position now where I can make it not black and white.”
Wilson said he would like to bring together the black organizations on campus. He said all organizations work for a common goal, and they should all work together to achieve that goal.
Wilson said he wants to increase diversity on campus and make sure events “aren’t a black thing or a white thing, but an LSU thing.”
“I’m a down-to-earth person and I know what it’s like being an average student,” he said. “I’m trying to foster the needs of the average student.”