Since July, the University of Connecticut has been facing a federal investigation into allegations of race-based discrimination in three of its residential learning communities. Four students from one of these learning communities, Black Sisters Optimizing Unity and Leadership (BSOUL) House, offer their perspectives on the community’s role in their college experience.
BSOUL is a learning community at Peter Werth Residence Tower for first and second-year students of any major.
The community is “designed to support the scholastic efforts of women who identify as African American/Black through academic and social/emotional support,” according to a statement on UConn’s website for learning communities.
Cydnee Copeland, a fifth semester mechanical engineering major and current FYE mentor at BSOUL, said she was enthused when she first learned of the opportunity to join BSOUL since she knew UConn is a predominantly white institution (PWI).
“I was really excited about it, mostly because my high school was majority white and… mentally I was coming into another majority white institution, so the idea of having a community on campus… was really exciting to me,” Copeland said.
Seventh semester psychology major Paris Austin lived in BSOUL for two years and was an FYE mentor for one of them.
Austin said it benefited her “to have a Black director to look out for [her] and give [her] the ability to go places and then Black sisters on [her] floor to talk about all the issues that were going on campus.”
Sixth semester psychological sciences major Alexzandra Lindo lived at BSOUL for three semesters and said she also benefited from the community.
“I absolutely loved it. I feel it was a great opportunity for me to develop personally, socially and professionally,” Lindo said.
Third semester journalism and Africana Studies major Madisen Turner, a current FYE mentor at BSOUL, said that her experience at UConn is also much better because of her involvement.
“I was very excited when I learned that I got into BSOUL because… I could connect to people that had goals and dreams and keep pushing to build each other up,” Turner said.
Members of BSOUL emphasized that the learning community has never been intended to exclude others, and that all are welcome at BSOUL.
“I think yes [BSOUL] focuses on bringing a community of Black women together, but we were never any kind of exclusionary space. All of our events are open to anyone, and plenty of people have friends that they bring over,” Copeland said.
Austin said she’s witnessed non-BSOUL members participate too.
“Anybody can come in, we’ve had multiple people come to the floor at times,” Austin said.
Lindo also said that BSOUL’s mission wasn’t to exclude any student.
“[BSOUL’s role] is to provide support to students, immediate support, more intentional support… We can’t ignore the obvious, that we go to a PWI. And the type of support that we will receive, it’s intentional in the way that it does not ignore the things that we experience, such as microaggressions [and] racism,” Lindo said.
Many of the students expressed that the attack on BSOUL is predictable because of BSOUL’s status as a visible safe space for Black women. Turner said attacks on “safe spaces” like BSOUL can be seen throughout history.
“Identifying spaces where African American women can be free to express themselves is… frowned upon,” Turner said.
Even though some students were predicting pushback, it didn’t stop them from being disappointed when they learned about it.
“Of course, I’m upset about it but deep down… I’m not entirely surprised,” said Copeland.
The civil rights complaint against BSOUL is currently being investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. The complaint was filed by the conservative group Equal Protection Project on July 9, according to the case overview.