Students at Shoreline Community College recently gathered inside the Quiet Dining room and hosted a Black Student Union (BSU) meeting.
“It provides a safe place to express their identity,” said Magdalena Fonseca, the director of the Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center (ECC) at the University of Washington. “It’s also a place for them to feel validated, express who they are, and just feel safe on campus. They can feel like there’s a space where they belong and a space where they are able to create community.”
The Black Student Union (BSU) is a student-led organization that advocates for the rights of Black students on campus. It was founded in 1966 at San Francisco State University during the Civil Rights Movement.
While some have found the BSU has helped strengthen community ties, these spaces have been seen by others as a form of “neo-segregation,” which is the belief that schools are voluntarily segregating people.
Heather Mac Donald, the author of “Diversity Delusion,” is among those people.
Diversity delusion is the belief that underrepresented ideological, gender, and racial minorities are victims of interminable oppression and emotional trauma, according to the author.
In essence, Mac Donald claims race and “gender pandering” lead to “corrupt” universities and culture.
President Donald Trump recently declared government Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs as illegal.
This right-wing ideology has made it more crucial for staff at the ECC “to help demystify that and educate people,” Fonseca said.
“At the end of the day, people also have to take action and do their part to become educated,” she said.
Only 5% of the student population at the University of Washington is Black, and 10% is Latino. Meanwhile, 33% of students enrolled are white, according to a 2024 Fall enrollment report conducted by the university.
Spaces for people of color are meant to empower, not segregate, according to counselors.
“I don’t believe that we promote segregation; absolutely not,” Fonseca said.
Instead, the BSU helps have conversations about systemic racism in “real and authentic ways,” she added.
The goal of these identity-based spaces is not the same as it was historically. The intention of separating people in the 1800s was to segregate people to uphold white supremacy.
Today, the purpose of spaces is for people to be “free,” even if only momentarily, from marginalization that permeates every other societal space people of color occupy, Fonseca said.
America’s history as a racialized country is one people of color are no strangers to. It has left its mark on institutions, individuals, and many other aspects of society.
Educational institutions are not exempt from that.
Despite the progress that has been made in the nation’s history, some students expressed that they still feel isolated at Predominantly White Institutions (PWI).
“Too foreign for the locals and too local for the foreigners, ” said Tauieldin Shaker, a BSU member at the meeting.
Many students bonded over their similar sense of isolation on campus and various experiences hearing microaggressions.
Fonseca said even though some try to twist the purpose of identity-based groups, BSU’s goal is to “help to enrich the entire campus by allowing anyone that’s on campus the opportunity to learn the work we do and the importance of it.”
Samara Boyce is a recent journalism graduate from the University of Washington. Born in the East Coast and raised in Washington, Samara has hopes of pursuing a career writing about diversity.