By Tom Interval
Staff Writer
Daisy Golden stood at the podium, ready to finish her campaign speech. “Vote for the flower with the power,” she said as she smiled confidently.
The audience loved her.
Then again, they seemed to enjoy every speech presented at the Black Student Coalition’s first campaign and election ceremony, held on Tuesday, April 4 in the College Center.
Kimberly D. Saunders, president of the BSC, began the election ceremony with an introductory speech. She was quick to dispel rumors about the new organization.
“It seems that people feel that I am promoting segregation amongst the African-American students that are members,” she said. “By all means, this accusation is wrong…What I am helping to promote is the unity of not just members, but all students.”
Saunders said the Coalition’s top two concerns are to create unity among a diverse La Roche community and to help students embrace their cultural identity.
After her speech, Saunders read, “My Gift to You,” a collection of quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.; Maya Angelou; Booker T. Washington; Malcolm X; Frederick Douglass; and BSC members Starlette Davis and Brandon Holly.
Kelly Hale, a founding member of BSC, read an article that appeared in the March 1995 issue of The La Roche Courier. The article, written by Davis and Holly, outlined the reasons for BSC’s existence.
“What we are trying to promote is unity amongst the small black community at La Roche,” said Hale, quoting Davis and Holly. "Plus, as freshmen begin to come in, they will see that there will be an organization here to ease the transition into college that many of the black students from this year did not experience.
“By inviting people of all races and cultures to join, the ideas of separation and segregation are thrown out the window.”
The third speaker, Rose Cheriton, a switchboard operator at La Roche, read a letter she wrote to Saunders expressing her support for the BSC.
Six campaign speeches were next. The following candidates were on the ballot: Saunders, president; Davis and Holly, vice president; Edenis Torres and Maria Tuah, treasurer; and Golden, secretary.
The following BSC members were voted into office: Saunders, Davis, Tuah and Golden.
After the newly elected officers took the La Roche Honor Code, Saunders recognized La Dawn Robinson, BSC advisor, and Hale for their contributions to the organization.
The BSC, which first met on Jan. 24, was founded by Saunders, Robinson, Hale, Holly, Davis, Johnathan Hicks, Golden, Tuah and Derek “D.J.” Judge.
