BSM evolves over 40 years

When the founders of the Black Student Movement first began organizing at UNC in 1967, they focused their efforts on increasing the power of the black voice.

They issued a list of 22 demands to the chancellor aimed at improving race relations at UNC and sought to increase the growth rate of the black student population on campus.

Four decades later, members of UNC's largest student cultural organization say their role on campus now has evolved to include issues that affect the entire campus community.

Even though the Black Student Movement has broadened its approach about cultural affairs in recent years, leaders say they haven't forgotten the organization's roots.

Several black students split off from the campus chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1967 because they thought the organization inadequately represented their needs.

The BSM formed from this divide and took a more progressive approach to race relations at UNC.

"We needed an organization that was more relevant to the needs of the black community," said Adolph Reed, one of the founders of BSM in 1967.

"A group of us just decided that the NAACP doesn't do it anymore."

Black students made up slightly more than 1 percent of the freshman class in 1967. By 1969 black students made up 2.5 percent of the freshman class.

Reed, who spoke Wednesday at BSM's weekly meeting, said one of the biggest issues during his time at UNC was a strike by the Lenoir Dining Hall employees, who were mostly black, to receive pay raises and more time off. It was the first significant cause that BSM supported.

"There were some horrible things going on that we felt we should stop," Reed said.

BSM members picketed with the cafeteria workers and boycotted the dining halls.

As the strike continued, workers and students filled Manning Hall and set up an alternative dining option - selling bologna sandwiches for about 75 cents each - to support the workers financially while on strike and to feed the students who were boycotting the dining halls.

The workers earned between $300 and $400 collectively each day by operating independent of the University.

Reed said state police threatened to make arrests and take over Manning Hall, so the workers and students were forced to cease operations.

But the strike eventually was successful and led to pay increases for hundreds of state employees.

When professor Sonja Haynes Stone died of a stroke in 1991, BSM members voiced their dissatisfaction with the small black cultural center in the Student Union and pushed for a freestanding building dedicated to the late professor.

But former Chancellor Paul Hardin said the center should be "a forum and not a fortress," and the Black Cultural Center's suite in the Union was dedicated to Stone.

After more than a decade of fundraising and rallying, BSM members were able to see the dedication of a freestanding Stone Center.

Although BSM membership and support has grown over the years, only about 30 members attended Wednesday's meeting. The organization is one of the largest on campus with about 600 members.

Reed said he does not think the discrepancy is unusual. When BSM first began meeting, Reed said that it had about 25 members but that only about five of them met regularly.

"Every organization needs a core group of people to keep it together," he said.

At Wednesday's meeting some members expressed concern that black students now find it unnecessary to join BSM.

"It's possible for a black student to go to UNC and not feel the need to join a black student organization," Reed told the group. "It's kind of a victory that black students can feel free to go to college and don't feel the need to join a black organization."

BSM President Renae McPherson said her focus this year has been to recruit new members and encourage current members to get more involved with the organization.

"More members are coming to the meetings, and more people want to get involved," she said. "We've been very successful with that this year."

McPherson said BSM's role has evolved to take on more overarching issues such as health, education and helping other minorities.

"The issues that the BSM involves itself in are no longer black issues," she said. "Just because we're not dealing with black issues doesn't mean that the BSM isn't needed to make the campus better for everyone."

BSM leaders have joined additional campus cultural organizations and have ambassador reports once a month to discuss the campus's cultural climate.

November 2007 will mark BSM's 40th anniversary, and to commemorate it, McPherson said officials are in talks with past BSM members and UNC administrators to make the event memorable.

"There's a lot of stuff going on," she said, declining to comment on specifics. "We're going to include not only BSM members, but the campus as a whole. We're looking forward to it."

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.