By Trey Gregory
Reporter
Baylor’s NAACP club started its fall meetings to discuss their goals for the upcoming school school year.
During the meeting the club’s officers listed their goals for this year: to make a difference on campus and in the Waco community. In order to achieve these goals, the NAACP will organize many events on campus to raise awareness about civil rights issues, as well as provide services to the Waco community.
This year, the NAACP’s mission is to organize many events on campus to raise awareness about civil rights issues, as well as provide services to the Waco community.
Denver junior Marley Frazier, the community service chair, said, “As African American Students, we see a need for an organization that promotes civil rights on campus.” Frazier said one of her personal goals is to increase social activities between the Waco community and the NAACP.
Houston senior Katherine Regalado, Baylor’s NAACP club president, said she wants to get people excited about their mission, increase their membership and conduct many community outreach programs. Regalado also hopes the NAACP can host an event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s March On Washington and use the event to celebrate the progress made since the march. Regalado said they would also like to discuss issues that still linger.
The NAACP meets on the third floor of the Bill Daniel Student Center on the first and third Tuesday of each month. During every meeting, the group discusses a current hot topic in order to raise awareness about current events and civil rights issues.
The group plans on talking about the Stand Your Ground law, the shooting of Christopher Lane in Oklahoma, new voter-suppression laws, the Oscar Grant murder and the Baylor election riot.
One of Regalado’s personal goals for this year is to focus on Baylor’s retention rate of minority students. According to Regalado, minority students are much more likely to leave Baylor after their freshman year than white students.
Regalado said she spoke with Elizabeth Palacios, Dean for student development, about forming a committee to investigate the reasons why minority students leave Baylor at significantly higher rates than their white peers, and if anything can be done to improve Baylor’s retention of minority students.
Regalado also wants to see more diversity within Baylor’s NAACP club.
“Everyone, regardless of race, is welcome to be a part of Baylor NAACP,” Regalado said. “As long as you have a passion or interest in becoming a part of the largest and oldest civil rights activist group, you are encouraged to join.”
Baylor’s NAACP club works in close relation with the Waco-Mclennan County and National NAACP Branches. Regalado said her group will attend the regional, state and national conventions this year.
According to their official website, “The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.”
For more information please visit the NAACP’s website at www.naacp.org.
