About 250 people from eight campuses gathered Saturday at Ball State University to learn about and discuss issues in the black community not often looked at.
The Black Issues Conference, formally called the Black Summit, addressed black greek life, the black image in media and safe sex. The conference included presentations and guest speakers such as author J.L. King and Melody T. Fisher, an instructor of mass communications at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss.
The conference was planned by the Black Student Association on campus. The conference started Friday night at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center with a welcoming event and bowling at Cardinal Lanes.
Saturday's events started with Fisher speaking about how blacks are portrayed by the media. Her examples included how much coverage the Scott Peterson case received versus the coverage of a similar incident with a black family in California. She also reiterated what Kanye West said last year about the coverage of Katrina aftermath in New Orleans, and how black families were labeled as looters while white families were scavengers.
Freshman Sarah Hairston was a greeter at the conference and said she felt the speeches really related to her.
"It made me realize that I need to pay more attention to the news and how they portray our community," she said. "More importantly, it made me think of ways that I can keep from becoming a statistic."
Presenter Derwin Smiley said in his speech "Has Greek Life Gone Too Far?" that black fraternities have lost sight of why they were created. Smiley's main point was that greek life had not gone too far, instead it hasn't gone far enough, and he said it's not about the quantity of black students involved in fraternities, but the quality of their work and the degree of ways they help the community, senior Brittny Smith, president of the BSA, said.
Senior Mont+â-¬ Williams, president of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., said the speeches took black fraternities back to their roots.
"The message that I received from Derwin Smiley's speech was that these organizations were created to obtain equal rights on campus," he said. "The purpose was to show leadership, but what he said was that it's just a fashion statement now. It's a big wake up call. In a way it's a big slap in the face, but it's a slap you need."
In the final presentation, King tried to educate Ball State students about the importance of safe sex and being cautious. He is the author of books such as "Coming Up from the Down Low."
Not all students were pleased with the messages they received from the speakers. Junior James Scott, vice president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. said he felt some of the speakers missed a majority of the audience.
"Some of the speakers were great, but some I didn't agree with," Scott said. "On a more personal level, the messages spoke to me because they were geared more towards the greek community, though if you weren't greek, you would have no way of understanding."
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