Last year, sophomore Genise Sherrill was the victim of racial harassment when men on her floor in Reinert Hall reportedly yelled obscene words at her through her dorm room door because of the color of her skin.
This year, Sherrill said she hopes to combat the prejudice she has encountered on campus as she serves as chapter president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at Saint Louis University, which was officially instated at the beginning of November.
Sherrill said she turned to her friends in the Black Student Alliance (BSA), for support when the racial incident occurred, and it was then that they considered forming a chapter of the NAACP on campus. For them, starting the chapter marked a pivotal accomplishment.
“It was a long journey, but we’ve made it,” Sherrill, who began planning the initiation of the chapter last spring, said. “That was kind of the final piece to our puzzle.”
However, Sherrill said the journey was met with several obstacles.
“There were a lot of negative attitudes when it first started,” Sherrill said, explaining that many people did not think that she, a freshman student, could actually organize such a group.
Sherrill and other students approached the administration and received help from both the Cross Cultural Center and the Department of Diversity and Affirmative Action to coordinate the NAACP chapter.
“I’m proud of the group, many of which were first year students when they began the chartering process last academic year, for taking the lead on this,” LaTanya Buck, program manager for the Cross Cultural Center, said.
Jennifer Scheessele, director of the office of Diversity and Affirmative Action said she was eager to assist the students. “The more students are involved in bringing awareness of social identity the better,” Scheessele said. “I’m more than happy to support them.”
Sherrill said that the NAACP at SLU is promoting diversity through the We are Human campaign, an initiative that seeks to create social justice training courses, dialogues and various other events that bring the SLU community together.
The chapter is currently holding a clothing drive for the Salvation Army. Students are asked to drop off clothes and canned goods in designated boxes in the Busch Student Center and residence halls.
Sherrill said that the chapter will also host a Charity Spades Tournament and game night at 7 p.m. on Nov. 19 in BSC 173 to raise money for A Better World, a non-profit organization that seeks to assist at-risk urban neighborhoods.
“We really want to give back to the St. louis community,” Sherrill said. “We are working double time to help SLU and our St. Louis community and bring everyone together to hopefully someday be on the same page. It is a beautiful city, but some things are overlooked.”
The chapter received a charter for the organization from the national NAACP board in October, but is still at probationary status at the University. They hope to become a Chartered Student Organization this month.
In order to become a qualified member of the NAACP chapter at SLU, participants must be a full time student, or under the age of 25 and pay a membership fee of $10. Faculty wishing to join the NAACP must do so through the St. Louis City or County branches. Once members, however, they may participate with SLU related activities.
While several members of the NAACP chapter are also members of the BSA, the two organizations have different objectives.
“BSA is more so a representation of African American and African students on campus that creates events and dialogues that represent that population, whereas NAACP is a group for everyone on campus,” Sherrill said.
Sherrill said that the NAACP is needed on campus not only for representation, but also for activism and legality purposes.
Sherrill explained that the chapter would help to represent the student fairly through a legal process in the instance of a racial crime or harassment.
“The organization’s mission is to ensure equality for all minority groups and eliminate racial prejudice,” Buck said. “Acts of race-related hate and bias have occurred on campus recently and I think it’s both timely and admirable that these students seek to address and inform others of racial discrimination.”
