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Campus News
Events held during Black History Month successful
By Peter Clark
Daily Staff Writer
February 27, 2005
As a freshman in 2002, public relations major Abel
Abstegeorgis eagerly anticipated participating in the
activities he thought he would be going on during
Black History Month. However, he felt that because of
low publicity, budget cuts and the firing of many
advisers, there were few events commemorating Black
History Month at San Jose State University.
"I don't think that there was a lack of interest back
then, there just weren't many events to attend," said
Abstegeorgis, who is now a junior and president of the
Iota Phi Theta fraternity. "I was very disappointed in
Black History Month during my first year of college.
This year was different though. This year was amazing.
I've never seen Black History Month so organized.
There was such a variety of events and so much
information being put out."
Natasha Lovelace, Black Student Union president and a
junior majoring in psychology, organized many of the
events held during this years Black History Month.
"I think that Black History Month and African
Awareness Month were very successful this year,"
Lovelace said. "A lot of times, you can't even realize
that it is going on. But this year, thanks to the
cooperation between different organizations, there was
a lot of publicity and a lot of events."
This February, students had the option of
participating in poetry nights, talent shows and
fashion shows, but the month was not only about
entertainment. More informative events were offered as
well.
"Don't Be a Statistic 2005," put on by the Iota Phi
Theta fraternity, was a forum-based conversation about
issues affecting the black community, such as safe
sex.
Some of the statistics presented at the forum were
staggering, Abstegeorgis said.
"One quarter of African Americans at SJSU have or have
had an STD. SJSU has a pretty small African American
community, so we all kind of know each other, you
know?" he said.
The pitfalls of freshman year were also addressed at
the forum.
"Fifty-nine percent of incoming SJSU freshman don't
return the following year." Abstegeorgis said. "These
are things people should know. In my opinion, there is
nothing more (real) than truth, and statistics provide
this."
"Don't Be a Statistic 2005" was one of the more
important and popular events held during Black History
Month, said Temesgin Atzvaha, a junior majoring in
graphic design.
The event, which about 40 people attended, really
opened up Atzvaha's eyes to some of the things
affecting the African American community at SJSU,
Atzvaha said.
Despite the perceived improvement in SJSU's Black
History Month, not every event was met with success.
The Monday night movie nights had a pretty bad turnout
because most students were off campus, Lovelace said.
"But the few who showed up enjoyed them."
Other events, such as Black History Day lacked a large
student presence.
"I think it's hard to get people to show up sometimes
because SJSU is a commuter school," Atzvaha said.
"Students are also busy with work, organizations and
classes."
Ruth Wilson, an African American studies professor,
cited the recent firings of pivotal staff members as a
reason for some lack of participation in this year's
Black History Month.
"The fact that students were able to organize and
sponsor some activities was pretty amazing given the
general lack of resources that have been allocated for
African American cultural events," Wilson said.
This March, Abstegeorgis and Iota Phi Theta will be
organizing an event to thank the Black Student Union
for their work this February.
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