The following article was previously published on The Flat Hat’s website during the week of Oct. 23. However, due to an unforeseen technological glitch, it was removed from the website for a period of time and was re-uploaded today, Nov. 6.
In 1987, a group of employees at the College of William and Mary first met as the Black Faculty and Staff Forum to discuss the interests of the Black community on campus. In 1991, the Forum was organized officially, adopting its bylaws and electing officers in the following year. Now, over 30 years since its first meeting and after a lull of membership in the past decade, the Black Faculty and Forum has created a Transition Team to revitalize this community affinity group.
Supported by the College’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Black Faculty and Staff Forum is one of three college affinity groups along with the Women’s Network and EqualityW&M. Currently, the Forum does not have any officially elected members. The members of the Forum’s Transition Team have volunteered to revitalize the organization.
Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at William and Mary Law School Arielle Newby M.A. Ed ’21 is a member of the Forum’s Transition Team.
“Originally, the organization was started in thinking about Black faculty and staff and how they could support each other on campus and recognizing issues that were across the board with relation to how they were on campus, whether it be socioeconomic, whether it be thinking about promotions,” Newby said.
College Financial System Specialist Ghana Smith MBA ’21 is also a member of the Transition Team. Smith noted how important it was for members of the team to build off the history of the pre-existing Forum.
“We just didn’t have community, in terms of a place where people could come to and just conversate and enjoy each other’s company, like I said, building that community,” Smith said. “So it was important to me and to know that the forum already exists. It just needed to be revitalized.”
According to Newby, the Transition Team currently includes Newby; Smith; Associate Athletics Director for Academic Services Jason Simms; Chief of Staff in the Office of the President Carlane Pittman; National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of anthropology, Africana Studies and American Studies Michael Blakey; Alumni Engagement Coordinator for the Mason School of Business Alisa Whitehead; Oral Historian for the College’s libraries Andre Taylor; Senior Assistant Director in the Financial Aid Office Ginia Anderson; Travel Programs Manager in Financial Operations LaDonna Brown and Joy Jackson of the Office of Community Engagement. Newby spoke to the origins of the Transition Team.
“When we got involved, it was after the pandemic had sort of shifted with college operations,” Newby said. “Both Ghana and I were also formerly on the staff assembly where we moved some mountains for the staff assembly. We’ve always felt that there was this need to have this engagement that is not just holistically for staff, but thinking about the groups within staff.”
She elaborated on the initial conversations that motivated herself and Smith to get the ball rolling with the Transition Team.
“She and I would actually talk quite often with a few others, who are no longer here, about this piece of ‘where is our engagement as Black people and how do we connect with each other?’” Newby said. “I think for some of us, like Ghana and I, we were able to organically connect, but we know that’s not happening across the board.”
Smith noted that the first Zoom meeting the Transition Team held with potential Forum members in Nov. 2021 consisted of over 40 people. During these initial Zoom meetings, the Transition Team created its guiding themes.
“As the transition team, first, we had to ask the important question: Is there a need for this? Or is this just something that is a dream that we think is needed and wanted? But when people showed up at that first meeting, it was a confirmation that somehow, some way, we have to figure this out because so many people were just excited,” Smith said.
“We are trying to figure our way in terms of ‘What does this look like in 2023?’” Smith said. “Because the model of 1987 might not exactly work in 2023. So what does that look like?”
According to the Forum’s website, the guiding themes of the Transition Team are advocacy and awareness, connection and networking, personal and professional development, recruitment and retention and speakers and events.
Smith noted that because of the age of the Forum, the transition team is crucial to bring the goals and themes of the organization up to date.
“We are trying to figure our way in terms of ‘What does this look like in 2023?’” Smith said. “Because the model of 1987 might not exactly work in 2023. So what does that look like?”
The College’s Special Collections Research Center at the Earl Gregg Swem Library has several records from the early years of the Forum, including the original bylaws, committee information, event flyers and meeting minutes. According to the collection, the Forum held several annual events, such as a Black history trivia contest, a holiday gala, a spring fling and many guest speaker events. Newby noted that much of the original Forum’s mission was based primarily on service.
“The purposes of the Forum shall be to 1) promote the recruitment and retention, promotion and tenure, and professional development and career advancement of Black faculty, administrators, and staff at the College; 2) to address issues of concerns to the Black community; including campus climate; 3) to provide support for recruitment and retention of Black students; 4) to expand and strengthen the relationship and involvement of Black faculty and staff of the College with the wider College community, including the Hulon Willis Alumni Association; and 5) to foster a greater sense of community and mutual support among the Black faculty and staff of the College through mentoring and networking,” the Forum’s original 1992 bylaws read.
Smith spoke to how the revitalized Forum can fit within the inclusive excellence framework of the College in the present day, as the College considers strategic planning initiatives such as Vision 2026.
“Research has shown that community engagement helps with retention. It helps with recruitment,” Smith said. “In terms of the bigger vision of the university, as people apply, as people figure out, ‘Is this where I want to start my career, continue my career?’ They want to know, ‘Where are the people that look like me? Where are the people that have similar voices? Is my voice being heard? Is this a safe space, a safe university for my voice? Will they support my research? Will they support my career journey?’ So, those are things that I feel like the Forum can help in terms of that big, overarching university vision.”
Newby also emphasized the Forum’s role in the College’s larger vision and prioritization of inclusive excellence, tying in arguments of student belonging and involvement from education scholars Dr. Alexander Astin and Terrel L. Strayhorn.
“If we can get to a point where Black faculty and staff are at a point of belonging and feel good about what they do and the community that they join, and having even an internal community that further perpetuates that, then it is going to impact the flourishing and belonging of our students,” Newby said. “I think when we talk about, as a university, that we want marginalized groups here, we want belonging, then that also has to be shown on the faculty and staff tiers. And you can almost make no mistake, and you can correlate what that looks like for us and how it impacts the student body.”
Newby continued, emphasizing the importance of the Forum in terms of belonging.
“I think it’s important that this group remains supported and uplifted for that purpose because the reality is, as faculty and staff, our job is to serve students,” Newby said. “The students are the customers, and we would not be here if it were not for our students, whether they be undergraduate, professional or graduate. So I would think to stay mission-focused and centered, to be committed to our values as an institution, this group plays a huge role in that.”
