Diversity is not invisible on Long- wood’s campus, and a new opportunity available to students is now in the works to prove this. Marjorie Griffin, residence education coordinator of the Longwood Village, is currently in the works of forming a campus chapter for National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Griffin commented that when she be- gan working at Longwood three years ago, she was interested in seeing how she could get more students involved with the community. Having a brother who works at an NAACP chapter at another college, Griffin stated that seeing the platform for student voices at the organization is what really caused her interest in bringing it to Longwood.
Griffin said, “One thing that the NAACP really focuses on is getting the youth that are in that college involved in the community, so raising awareness about issues that are happening on campus or bring- ing attention to those things as well as helping out in the community as well [are goals].”
For this new chapter and the types of students capable of joining, Grif- fin commented, “I wouldn’t say it’s exclusive to just a certain group of students, and I think that one misconception of the NAACP is that it’s associated with black students.”
She added, “A bit of information that a lot of people don’t know is that in its inception, the original founding executive council only had one African-American member on the executive council ... I think looking beyond the words and learning the history of the organiza- tion and what it actually stood for and what it’s about is going to be really beneficial in getting them fired up to be active in such an organization as the NAACP.”
“It’s less about what people look like and more about the experiences that people can share and finding ways to resolve any issues or even having a platform to talk about it because sometimes you need someone who may share similar experiences in order for you to figure out how to work through those,” said Griffin.
In the past, Longwood University had an NAACP chapter that was active and affiliated with the national organization. Griffin estimated that the chapter became inactive to the national branch about 10 years ago due to a lack of student interest and activity.
Currently, the NAACP chapter at Longwood is considered non-compliant. To become an active chapter of the national NAACP organization, the Longwood chapter must have at least 25 members and four letters of recommendation from the State Conference President, the State Youth and College Division advisor or president, the Local Branch President and the Regional Director, according to the NAACP Unit Financial and Book- keeping Guide.
Griffin expects that the Longwood chapter should be reactivated by the end of the semester, but she added, “I think it may move faster by that.”
Concerning any future goals or future events that may occur after reactivation, she said, “Until those steps are satisfied, I can’t really speak as to what would happen in the future.”
Speaking on the opportunity the NAACP chapter may give to Long- wood students, Griffin said, “I think it’s a positive way for students to connect with other students that have similar things going on so they can develop programs and come together to raise awareness and support students.”
The NAACP Longwood Chapter will be hosting an interest meeting. To learn more about this event and further information, contact Marjorie Griffin at griffinml@longwood.edu.
