*This story is part of our 2010-11 Mizzou in Review series.*
Lisa White said she will never forget Feb. 26, 2010, or Feb. 12, 2011 — two dates when racially-charged acts of vandalism rocked the student body and made headlines.
“I remember it clearly,” the Legion of Black Collegians president said.
She wasn’t in town for either, but she said she can recall vivid details of when she learned of each. Last year, she was in Texas for the Big IX Conference on Black Student Government when the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center Director Nathan Stephens pulled her and several other Legion of Black Collegians executive board members aside to inform them of the news.
“We were blown away because we just didn’t expect something like this to ever happen,” she said. “It was even worse because we were out of town. There wasn’t much we could do, but we knew we had to do something.”
LBC, of which she was vice president at the time of the cotton ball incident, responded by holding a Town Hall meeting, which was heavily attended. But a little less than a year later, another racist act of vandalism rocked campus when a student spray-painted a derogatory graffiti message outside of a residence hall. This time, White, who was now LBC president, was visiting her family in St. Louis.
“The first time, I was vice president so the president and I were making a lot of the moves,” she said. “This time, I felt it weighed heavily on me. Not knowing that when (Anthony Martin), our prior president, faced this issue the spotlight was more on him than on us. But as I was away I depended upon my other executive board members. I felt bad that I couldn’t do more, but I did as much as I could. It was kind of a trying period for me.”
But she quickly returned to school and got her feet moving once again. Shortly after the incident, Faculty Council passed a diversity course general education requirement, which would require students to take a set number of courses considered “diversity education.” White sees the passage of the diversity course requirement as a victory of sorts.
“It’s a stepping stone,” she said, “but it’s not the end result.”
During her four years at MU, White has committed herself to achieving this end result.
White’s influence over the university isn’t confined to strictly LBC: she is also the chairwoman of the Black Programming Committee and was one of the brains behind February’s Big IX Conference on Black Student Government at MU. She said planning the conference was one of the most stressful but rewarding moments of her life.
She managed the conference’s budget of more than $250,000 and made MU one of the few schools that ended the conference making a profit. She played an integral part in organizing the step show, the Gospel Extravaganza, two parties and numerous leadership sessions for the 700 students who attended. And what did she find in all of this?
Her passion.
“Between this and my BPC position, I learned that this is kind of what I want to do with my life,” she said. “I learned that a conference – though really stressful – helps a lot of people.”
She enjoyed her college experience so much that she hopes to come back as an admissions representative. But regardless of what happens until graduation, she’s looking forward to the future.
“If anything, my college experience wasn’t beneficial because of my academics – it was beneficial because of the experience I got,” she said. “A lot of students come to college and leave with the knowledge of the general courses and things like that. I feel like your experience is what people look to you for, and I feel like this was the best experience I could have. I wish for everyone to get involved, because it can really do something special for you.”
