Are you the President of a student led organization on your
campus? If so, you have gained an awesome opportunity to grow, lead, learn,
network, and make a difference for your student body and university. In
addition to the obvious benefits of this position, it is good to be mindful of
the challenges the position present as well. As the president you will
experience sleepless nights, worrying, tough times, doubts and the urge to give
up.
In this blog, I will share solutions that I utilized to build
resiliency against five of the most memorable adversities I faced during my
three year term as President of the Black Student Union.
Challenge 1: Managing
the Black Student Union as President
It
was my responsibility to ensure the organization operated efficiently and
effectively navigated through the many administrations of our institution. As
President, I was committed to taking our student led organization to new
heights while keeping the original traditions and customs intact. Our
university staff, administration, advisors, students and board members looked
to me as the president to be equipped and well acquainted with all things about
BSU.
Solution:
• Increased
my knowledge about BSU by studying the organization’s bylaws,
history and effectivity.
• Educated
myself on university policies and individuals that held the power to support
and/or hinder us from moving forward.
• Made
it a priority for myself and the other board members to establish genuine
connections with our community, administration, faculty, students and fellow
BSU’s.
In
addition to making the challenge of navigating and operating the Black Student
Union less frightening, this solution also increased the internal and external
validity and purpose of the presidency position.
Challenge 2:
Being the President of a Black Student Union on a predominately white campus
As President I
was held accountable for keeping BSU true to the mission and vision set forth
by our founding members, which sometimes received little support and was often
challenged by some university students and personnel. I was often subjected to questions like, “why does the Black Student Union have
to be on campus”, “why should I pay activity fees to
support the Black Student Union if it’s only for Blacks”, “why is
it called the BLACK Student Union” [and
this was normally followed with the suggestion that it perpetuates racism and
that we should be required to remove the word black.]
Solution:
• Accepted
that not everyone would understand or like our mission.
•
Educated those who questioned, by actively
participating in meetings and events where minority student organizations were
not represented.
When I joined meetings hosted by fellow organizations and
university departments, I was sure to connect with their secretaries and
presidents to request that the Black Student Union be placed on their agenda.
During those meetings, I explained the history, purpose and need for BSU; I also
invited everyone to join our general body meetings and expressed how we were a
welcoming and permanent organization.
Challenge
3: Student vs President
Being a college
student is a full-time job; add on being the president of an organization, you
now have a career! Juggling the demands of both positions can be time consuming
and exhausting. In the beginning, I struggled to separate my responsibilities
and create boundaries between “president” and “student” that
are necessary to achieve success as a student. For example, there were times I
would visit the BSU office to “study”. However, instead of studying, I
would find myself spending hours discussing
the countless problems our African American students were facing.
Solution:
• Prioritized
school assignments and BSU tasks by utilizing monthly planners and to-do list.
• Found
more productive, or “neutral ground” places to study like
the library instead of the Minority Student Services office. I used
self-reflection to get myself on track. As a result, I gained a clear
understanding that above all, I was paying for and pursuing higher education to
receive my degree. When necessary, I mentally and physically separated my role
as Brandi the college student and Brandi the President of BSU. For example, If
I were on my way to class and someone stopped me to ask a question concerning
BSU, I would mentally evaluate my time and promise to get back to them by the
end of the day with an answer (and I did), because at the moment I was a
college student walking to class not engaged as the President of BSU.
Challenge 4:
Being a servant leader to everyone despite differences
Every student has
the right to participate in and benefit from your organization’s actions
and resources. Nonetheless, because we are all human beings, the probability of
sharing interests with everyone is slim. As the president of a student organization
you have to be able to find common ground! During my time as president, I
encountered individuals I could not find common ground with outside of BSU.
Despite my personal feelings, I had to discover the strength and maturity to
genuinely encourage and welcome them.
Solution:
• Recognized
that the existence and purpose of the Black Student Union was far more
important than my personal troubles with others.
•
Held myself accountable by asking our Vice
President (someone who saw me as true friend, not just as the President of
BSU), to inform me when I allowed personal troubles to affect my duties, so I
could correct my actions immediately.
I also kept the meaning and history of BSU at heart; knowing how
hard those before us fought to establish our organization was extremely helpful
in building resiliency for this particular challenge. Staying true to the
purpose of your organization and reminding yourself of its founding ideals is
helpful when you have to stay on track or be impartial in a situation.
Challenge
5: Micro managing due to fear and the need to control
I
observed the Black Student Union on my campus endure extremely rough times.
Nonetheless, I was also rewarded with opportunities to see the organization
blossom and exceed expectations. I often credited both types of experiences to
my success as President. However, at times, the rough experiences were the
unconscious reasons that encouraged my bad habit of micro managing. Micro
managing and my excessive need to “make
sure BSU was great” smothered
the creativity and leadership that existed in other board members. I was afraid
that no one cared the way I did cared. Fortunately, I learned how to trust and
let go; and it was one of the best things I did as President!
Solution:
• Shared
my passions and fear of BSU failing or being led inadequately with board
members.
• Followed
up with a sincere apology for not trusting or respecting board members as
leaders and creators. (From that day on, board members were trusted to perform their
duties without being micromanaged by the president).
We were able to amend policies and standards with the aim to make
all board members feel valuable and comfortable to create and lead. Board
members were encouraged to propose programs and understood how important they
and their opinions were to the success of our organization; furthermore, all
board positions were equipped to lead general body meetings and represent BSU.
Overall, my experience as President of the Black Student Union
was exuberant and breathtaking. Due to the challenges presented, solutions
discovered, and resiliency built, I am confident that I can survive and
accomplish all things. I am beyond grateful for my journey for many reasons,
one being the resiliency I gained during my term which continues to be a great
influence on who I am as a professional, parent, friend, citizen, etc. My greatest advice to all presidents, board
members, and organization leaders is to connect with and truly believe in the
mission and vision of your organization. At times that belief will be the only
thing that aids your ability to conquer challenges and build resilience.
Yours sincerely,
Brandi Cox
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