The University of Memphis Black Alumni Chapter held a meeting on Wednesday evening following the UofM Board of Trustees session, focusing on unity, student support, and long-term solutions for the campus community.
The meeting opened with introductions before BAC President Alexia Young emphasized the purpose of gathering: sharing accurate information about recent campus events, giving updates on those events, and discussing how alumni can continue to support students and staff as they navigate the current climate on campus.
Leaders also noted that members of the HIspanic Alumni Association were present, underscoring the goal of building solidarity across all communities.
“We don’t want staff facing this on their own. We don’t want students facing this on their own,” said Young. “Instead, we want to collaborate and create a plan of action that all of us can benefit from.”
Student Government Association President Chris Bailey, who attended the meeting, urged alumni to see the student perspective as broader than one individual voice.
“My personal opinions and my student opinions are two very different things, and my personal opinions versus my student body’s personal opinions are two very different things,” Bailey said. “It’s not just me, it’s not just these impacted leaders. It’s a mixture of everybody, and we’re all trying to figure out where to go.”
Bailey said students are primarily seeking two forms of support. One form being a sustainable funding model for scholarships and endowments independent from the university’s jurisdiction. Since the enforcement of the anti-DEI mandates, many scholarships have either been frozen, renamed or restructured to remove explicit diversity language. Programs once tailored toward Black or minority students have been broadened, leaving many students without the crucial aid they expected.
Joshua Perkins, treasurer of the Black Alumni Chapter, explained that their own scholarships had already been affected. “We can still decide who we award scholarships to,” he said, “but we had to broaden the language and be very careful with how we frame our questions.” He added that the chapter is preparing for further changes that could eventually push alumni groups to manage scholarships outside the university system.
“We don’t want to get to the point where we have to start over again. We rebuilt, and now we’ve got to shut it all down and build it back up,” Bailey said. “We want to figure out what that financial structure looks like and how we exist in this state moving forward.”
Alongside financial support, Bailey said students are also asking for a dedicated campus space for collaboration and community building. The proposed space would serve as a central hub for student advocacy, functioning as both a lounge and meeting area. Students have suggested relocating the Tech Hub resources to the library to make room in the University Center for the space, but Bailey stressed that alumni would play a key role in helping furnish the area and sustaining it.
“We have to build a new student culture if we’re going to move forward, because the biggest thing I noticed was that students felt lost and abandoned,” Bailed said. “And if this one law can make students feel lost and abandoned, what can the next 10 do?”
He also called on the alumni chapter to step in as mentors and advisors, noting that his own growth came from the alumni willing to give him their time and guidance.
The meeting concluded with a call for unity among all alumni in facing the changes together. Leaders stressed the goal is not just to protect current students but also to create long-term strategies to ensure that future generations are not hit as hard by similar policy shifts.
Jaylon Lee Hawkins can be contacted at Hawkins.Jaylon@memphis.edu.
I am a junior Journalism major with an emphasis in Broadcasting. I’ve reported for The Daily Helmsman for two years and currently serve as the Managing Editor, overseeing coverage and guiding our newsroom’s editorial direction.
