By Monique Davis, Staff Reporter
The public university with the largest percentage of Black students in California now has an honors society named after one of the largest names in Black, and American, history: the W.E.B. Dubois Honors Society, the first on the West Coast.
The first interest meeting for CSUDH’s chapter is today at noon. Interested parties will learn more about the society, a scholastic leadership and leadership organization designed to help members advance their academic excellence while also supporting their communities through service.
The society was launched in 1991 at Florida State University and has since expanded to eight locations. It is named after Dubois. a towering intellectual of the late 19th and 20th Century who was a civil rights activist, historian, educator, journalist, and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Dr. Donna J. Nicol, associate professor and chair of the Africana studies department, presented the idea of starting this chapter to the faculty after the vice president of the national organization mentioned it was looking to broaden the number of chapters.
“The vice president thought it would be a good fit given that Cal State Dominguez [Hills] has one of the largest African- American student populations,” of any four-year public university in the Western United States, Nicol said.
The invitation to attend the interest meeting was sent to qualifying African American students, based on their academic excellence and sound character. And intelligence and character were two of the most impressive traits embodied by the man the society is named after.
as a correspondent for the New York Globe newspaper.
“It is important for students to become involved in this program for two primary reasons,” Nicol said. “ One is to honor their academic hard work, but the second is to expose them to the teaching and the philosophy of W.E.B. DuBois. He was a pioneering thinker when it comes to talking about race, education, and pan- African studies. Giving that kind of exposure to DuBois at the same time of celebrating student’s academic achievements is important.”
Students are very excited about the start of this new program and the great lengths the Africana studies department is going to highlight African American academic excellence.
“As an African American, I feel like this program is necessary and a great opportunity,” Deja Anderson, a senior health science major, said. “There are hundreds, if not thousands of black scholars on our campus, and they aren’t getting the proper recognition they deserve. I believe the W.E.B. DuBois Honors Society will create a positive and uplifting environment for African- American Scholars.”
`The interest meeting will take place today at noon in the Dean’s Conference Room, LIB 5090.
