How the Black Student Alliance Transformed the Mary Baldwin Experience for Generations of Students
By Jasmine Louis ’28
The Mary Baldwin and greater Staunton communities gathered in Francis Auditorium to hear from a panel of alumni who shaped the Black Student Alliance into what it is today.
Students and faculty were joined by Staunton community members for an impactful evening in Francis Auditorium during the fifth annual Ida B. Wells Lecture last month. In highlighting the 30th anniversary of the campus organization Black Student Alliance (BSA), a panel of the club’s past presidents spoke on the formation of BSA and left words of encouragement for present students continuing the work they started.
The panel opened with some of the earlier BSA presidents discussing how the need for this club organization arose. Founding president Torski Dobson-Arnold ‘99 recalled her early days as a freshman at MBU, stating that she was one of 12 Black students on campus while the school was an all women’s college in the late 90s.
Wherever the young women went, they felt a veil of racial tension not only on the Staunton campus, but in the outside community as well. “We were a little ship in a big ocean hoping we’d stay afloat,” said Dobson-Arnold ‘99. After much perseverance and determination, the students formed the Black Student Alliance, focused on the legacy and empowerment of the African American community.
The BSA led to the creation of more programming for minority students on campus, including the creation of the Ida B. Wells Living-Learning Community, and later, the men’s equivalent PERSIST. These students chose to cultivate a space for themselves where they felt valued and a shared sense of belonging. “I knew the Black girls behind me would be okay,” Jawanda Smith-Jenkins ‘03 said, “because I had a chance to know what okay felt like.”
The students weren’t in this fight alone. Supporting them were Professor Emeritus Dr. Edward A. Scott, the university’s first Black professor, and Reverend Andrea Cornett-Scott, both of whom are still shaping generations of students who come through these programs.
The conversation then pivoted towards the life skills students are learning from holding executive positions in BSA and other clubs under the Office of Inclusive Excellence.
Jelani Meyer ‘22 spoke on returning to campus in the midst of uncertainty after the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement. He recalled the pressure he felt as BSA’s president, with the expectation others had for him to address these issues.
But he also shared how instances like that showed him just how important clubs like BSA are. In the midst of worldwide chaos, he recognized the power he had to make a difference right in his community. “I’m learning how to speak up and how to be an ally for other groups,” Meyer said.
If it’s in us, it’s in you, because we instilled it.
Tiffany Jackson ’07
Some of the panelists shared personal stories with the audience about everything from failing GPAs to being suspended from the university, and how BSA allowed them to turn those setbacks into success. The club recognized and honed the gifts they already had, and unlocked additional abilities within them that helped develop them into the leaders they now are.
Many alumni also mentioned that Cornett-Scott was a true mentor to them in their college journeys, and was the reason many students stayed at MBU to continue the fight, despite anxious feelings about how the future would transpire.
Today, Mary Baldwin University’s residential undergraduate program has a population of over 50% students of color. Some of these students have chosen to continue in the footsteps of the alums who came before them. “They remind us that our work stands on their shoulders,” said Jonathan Delgado ‘26, current president of the Black Student Alliance, while reflecting on the event.
The present alumni received a standing ovation from the community as everyone was moved by the courage and initiative these previous students showed.
“If it’s in us, it’s in you,” said Tiffany Jackson ‘07. “Because we instilled it.”