Eastern Michigan University’s Student Government approved the delegate appointment of Kiera Osborne, a representative of the Black Student Union, during their Tuesday, Jan. 21, senate meeting.
A unanimous vote of 19-0, by the student senators, determines that student government believes BSU accurately represents African American students on campus as Student Government, as Parliamentarian Jack Swartzinski put it. Swartzinski said of the BSU during the meeting that, “they [are] the appropriate voice for African American students [at EMU for] the student government.”
Osborne, who is the secretary for the BSU, said “right now we have 10 to 15 people who are a part of the [BSU] but we also have people who are in different organizations. The black students on campus are [in] a lot of organizations.”
During a follow-up interview Osborne was asked about her organization’s plans to unite the various African-American student organizations on campus. Keira explained “our goal this year… our big focus was to be unapologetically black and focusing on being the umbrella [organization] for people on campus. We actually have our leadership summit coming up where we invited other schools with other BSU[s], and all organizations on campus…so that they can come and gain more leadership experiences with us.
Osborne continued, We [also have] different events on campus that we encourage different [executive] board positions to come to, and we continuously work with [these]...different organizations to get more funneled with [these] organizations”.
As a representative for the BSU, Osborne said “I plan on helping the black students, especially the black students who are, primarily, in the Black Student Union. [I hope to help black] students [and staff] with any problems or concerns that they have on-campus: whether that be faculty, each other, with students, [or] with housing.” In addition, she stated that she planned on helping to get more funding for black organizations on campus, “because there is not much funding [for them].”
She went on to say, “I plan to help not just black students, but other students on campus as well because there are many issues with students on campus.”
As a delegate, Osborn represents and speaks on behalf of the BSU, and consequently, the African American population of the EMU student body.
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