The Legion of Black Collegians is preparing to head to the Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government at the University of Oklahoma later this month. LBC will continue to attend the conference after MU leaves the Big 12.

LBC Political Actions Chairwoman Ashley Edwards said the conference has participants from Big 12 schools and schools in the area that are not a part of the conference.

“Right now, we would like to stay a part of the Big 12 conference,” she said.

Once MU’s membership in the SEC takes effect in July, Edwards said LBC hopes to develop relationships with SEC schools’ black student governments and invite them to the Big 12 conference.

“We could invite those schools to have them experience exactly what the conference is,” she said. “Then, if we can get those schools to partner with us and come together with us, we hope that we’ll be able to start another (black student government conference) in the SEC conference.”

Williams said the new conference could take a long time to develop.

“We just have to consider that the Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government has been going on since the ‘70s,” she said. “So it’s not a new thing by any means. It has taken all these years to become as successful as it is now.”

The Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government is taking place the weekend of Feb. 24 this year.

Attending the conference costs students $250, but many participants don’t pay the fee out of pocket, LBC President Whitney Williams said.

“A lot of schools and different colleges, like Arts and Sciences or Education, are willing to sponsor students that attend the conference,” Williams said.

LBC is planning on taking 30 students to the conference, she said. Most of the participants have already been chosen.

Edwards said the conference focuses on the exchange of ideas. The conference invites prominent black figures to speak on different topics.

Students also share their campus problems and solutions, Edwards said.

“We speak on different things, different things we might deal with going to predominantly white institutions,” she said. “Like if we have a problem on campus, or if there are problems going on at other campuses and if they have similar problems, how they’ve combated those problems. We just come together and put a lot of ideas together.”