In recognition of its black students, Piedmont has been hosting events for Black History Month for several years now. However, student organizers have expressed trouble with planning for the event this year.
United in Power, the black student union at Piedmont, has been hosting a Black History Month block party alongside the Campus Activities Board (CAB) since the group’s inception in 2020. However, the event this year has been reduced to a trivia night, and it appears that United in Power is no longer co-hosting this event.
CAB has not given details as to why the event has changed this year, and United in Power states that they have not been included in the planning process.
“CAB usually emails us,” said Imani Spence, founder and president of United in Power, “and asks us if we want to collab with them, … then we worked to set up a table, do music, etc. to liven the event and to show that support for black students on campus.”
President Spence and Vice President Lakhiya Franklin were notified by their group’s faculty advisor that someone from CAB said that they had sent them both emails about how CAB wanted to go in a different direction this year.
“We checked our emails, as well as the United in Power email, and there were no emails in sight,” said Spence.
United in Power cited dwindling attendance to previous Black History Month block parties as a potential reason CAB might have wanted to switch it up.
“In the past, CAB has made this poster of a black fist or something,” said Franklin. “It kinda gives more of a protest vibe than a party vibe, so maybe people [felt] intimidated by that.”
Spence replied that in her first response email she gave very detailed feedback on advertising the event and how to improve it.
Spence and Franklin expressed their hesitation to change the event.
“We feel like a lot of people probably wouldn’t be interested in a trivia night. Even other black students said that they would have preferred a block party instead,” Franklin explained.
The United in Power leadership sent an email detailing their thoughts on a Sunday, after hearing about the email they had not received. However, CAB did not respond until five business days had passed, and after Spence had left a physical note in the CAB offices for members to see.
CAB stated in their email that they were doing the trivia night and seemed unwilling to compromise, according to Spence.
Spence and Franklin said they had replied, but received no further communication from CAB. The Tuesday following their email exchange, posters advertising the Black History Month trivia night had gone up around campus. The posters detailed that the event was sponsored by CAB and Sigma Gamma Rho, not United in Power.
“CAB is excited to partner and collaborate with all student organizations on campus to celebrate Black History Month,” said Cat Wiles, faculty advisor for CAB, in an email to the ROAR staff. Wiles confirmed that CAB did have communication between its president and President Spence about the event.
“It’s really upsetting,” said Spence. “It’s Black History Month, … and it feels like we were kind of dismissed and ignored. That happening during this month is kind of ironic, in its own way.” Franklin also detailed that they had been left in the dark about CAB’s decision to sponsor the event with another group.
“It made us feel like we weren’t really being heard, especially being the black student union,” Franklin described. She went on to express disappointment in CAB’s seemingly lack of compromise.
“I will also be scheduling a meeting between the two organizations to find out where the communication broke down,” Wiles detailed in an email to ROAR staff. Wiles reports that she wants to “get a feel for what they would like to see happen next year.”
Piedmont University has a majority white student body, making students of color feel ostracized at times.
“I think it’s really important for us to have somewhere we really can celebrate our culture,” said Franklin.
United in Power cited the lack of diversity in Habersham as another reason why it is crucial for black students to have a safe space.
“I think Piedmont should maybe think about where we live,” said Franklin. She said she feels relatively safe at Piedmont.
“Piedmont doesn’t generally have a lot of issues related to [racism],” added Spence. “But the general area is another thing to consider.”
