A new Twitter hashtag has opened the doors for a slew of comments providing an honest, uncensored look at how black MSU students view their university experience.
The hashtag “BBMSU,” short for “Being Black at MSU,” recently was created to publicize both positive and negative experiences and aspects of the university that black students have noticed.
The hashtag started with University of Michigan students using “BBUM” and spread to East Lansing Some of the issues addressed in the tweets included people noticing only an individual’s skin color, characterizing a certain individual based off the entire race and “little to no funding” provided for multicultural programming and organizations.
Black Student Alliance, or BSA, President and journalism junior Tyler Clifford said the hashtag was a great way to document and archive the statements.
The BSA has built a connection with U-M’s BSA so the organization is more aware of the issues the two campuses need to address, Clifford said.
“They began the #BBUM campaign and it spread like a wildfire on Twitter and when I saw that, I let my board know and the (National Pan-Hellenic Council) that we should start a similar trend,” Clifford said.
“It is a call for more attention on the state of the black community at this campus.”
National Pan-Hellenic Council Advisor Robert Biddle said he also was happy and ?excited that students are starting to voice their opinions on their experiences at MSU.
“Oftentimes, students in underrepresented communities don’t have many chances to voice their experiences in the community, and this ?hastag provides them an opportunity,” Biddle said.
Twitter user @Em_Elle_ tweeted, “Being the only black person in class and constantly feeling like you have to defend the entire Black race. #BBMSU.”
With hundreds of tweets using the hashtag “BBMSU,” MSU’s official Twitter, ?@michiganstateu, tweeted out its own response sporting the hashtag.
“We are listening, and MSU encourages all students to share their experiences. We value diversity at MSU. #BBMSU.”
Clifford said many black students fall in the minority at predominantly white institutions across the nation.
According to recent university enrollment stats, MSU had only 2,514 African American/Black students in 2012, compared to 26,437 white students.
“It is a shared experience and the education issues for the black community need to be addressed from primary to secondary to higher education,” he said.
“There is power in numbers and (the hashtag) BBMSU and other similar hashtags allows students to mobilize their issues.”
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