NAACP Involved on Campus Since 1999
By Julia Barry
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has been at Northwestern State University at various time periods since Nov 12, 1999, the adviser of the NAACP Marcus Jones said.
Jones has been the academic adviser of NAACP many times since it has been a registered student organization at NSU. The organization has not been on campus consistently since 1999. NAACP has gone through periods in which they are active and inactive according to Jones and Chelsea Zeno, the Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 semesters president of NAACP.
NAACP was founded nationally in 1909 to work for the civil and political advancement of African Americans, according to NAACP.org.Since the end of the civil rights movement, the goals of NAACP have changed to focus on issues such as criminal justice, health, education, voter empowerment and economic development according to the NSU NAACP Fact Sheet.
The past members and chapters of the collegiate chapter at NSU strive for the same thing as their national counterparts. The collegiate members of NAACP have been a registered student organization, however, it has not always been chartered with the national organization.
The past members of NAACP did pay dues to be a member of the national organization, Zeno said, however, the members were not a part of a chartered chapter of the NAACP. Dues were used to pay fees for national membership in the NAACP and cover campus membership fees, Zeno said.
Previous presidents have attempted to charter a chapter of NAACP, Zeno said, however, the demands of creating events to keep interest in the organization made it harder for executive board members to focus on attaining a national charter. NAACP has been reestablished and fallen apart at NSU in the past. Known attempts to reestablish NAACP as a registered student organization occurred in 2005 and spring 2013, the current graduate advisor of the collegiate chapter Matthew Miles said.
Most previous members were unavailable for contact. After Zeno stepped down from the position of president in the spring 2012 semester, no one wanted to take over executive positions in the organization, Zeno said. Before the Spring 2012 semester, the main reason that the organization fell apart was because a majority of executive board members were “transitioning seniors in college, so they missed meetings,” Zeno said. This made the board unsuccessful in planning events for the campus, Zeno added.
The lack of leadership at meetings made students less willing to come to meetings, according to Zeno. On average there were about 20 members in the collegiate chapter during this term and only 15 members would attend meetings regularly, Zeno estimated. Thirty due paying members are required to charter a collegiate chapter and that number must be maintained for two years to keep the charter, current president of NAACP, Chantasia Grasty said.
The NAACP is the oldest civil rights organization active in the country and it was founded in 1909, according to their website. The original founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People were W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Ida B. Wells, Henry Moskowitz and William English Walling according to NAACP.org.
Jones has been the academic adviser of NAACP many times since it has been a registered student organization at NSU. The organization has not been on campus consistently since 1999. NAACP has gone through periods in which they are active and inactive according to Jones and Chelsea Zeno, the Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 semesters president of NAACP.
NAACP was founded nationally in 1909 to work for the civil and political advancement of African Americans, according to NAACP.org.Since the end of the civil rights movement, the goals of NAACP have changed to focus on issues such as criminal justice, health, education, voter empowerment and economic development according to the NSU NAACP Fact Sheet.
The past members and chapters of the collegiate chapter at NSU strive for the same thing as their national counterparts. The collegiate members of NAACP have been a registered student organization, however, it has not always been chartered with the national organization.
The past members of NAACP did pay dues to be a member of the national organization, Zeno said, however, the members were not a part of a chartered chapter of the NAACP. Dues were used to pay fees for national membership in the NAACP and cover campus membership fees, Zeno said.
Previous presidents have attempted to charter a chapter of NAACP, Zeno said, however, the demands of creating events to keep interest in the organization made it harder for executive board members to focus on attaining a national charter. NAACP has been reestablished and fallen apart at NSU in the past. Known attempts to reestablish NAACP as a registered student organization occurred in 2005 and spring 2013, the current graduate advisor of the collegiate chapter Matthew Miles said.
Most previous members were unavailable for contact. After Zeno stepped down from the position of president in the spring 2012 semester, no one wanted to take over executive positions in the organization, Zeno said. Before the Spring 2012 semester, the main reason that the organization fell apart was because a majority of executive board members were “transitioning seniors in college, so they missed meetings,” Zeno said. This made the board unsuccessful in planning events for the campus, Zeno added.
The lack of leadership at meetings made students less willing to come to meetings, according to Zeno. On average there were about 20 members in the collegiate chapter during this term and only 15 members would attend meetings regularly, Zeno estimated. Thirty due paying members are required to charter a collegiate chapter and that number must be maintained for two years to keep the charter, current president of NAACP, Chantasia Grasty said.
The NAACP is the oldest civil rights organization active in the country and it was founded in 1909, according to their website. The original founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People were W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Ida B. Wells, Henry Moskowitz and William English Walling according to NAACP.org.