Sometimes you have to complain less and do more to enact the change you wish to see. The change one particular group of K-State students want to see concerns diversity on campus.
That’s not to say that the university is not racially diverse. But when it comes down to diverse groups, some students feel there is much room for improvement — this is why one group of students pushed for U.N.I.T.Y.
Under No Intent To Yield was formed by four students with intentions of uniting their peers to stand together in diversity and move toward change.
“We were all talking one night and realized there was a divide among women on our campus,” Jordan Jackson, freshman in business and co-founding member, said.
According to Jackson, she and Sha’Cora Bramlet, freshman in nutrition and kinesiology, put the idea for starting up this organization in motion after Mikel Neil Jr., senior in kinesiology, suggested how to go about it.
“It takes more than one individual to create change, and one thing we stand for is creating that change with women on our campus,” Kiana Hamilton, junior in social work and co-founder, said.
Jackson and Bramlet wrote the constitution for the organization before it was able to become official this semester.
“The whole point is to bring any form of anything together, whether it’s your age, grade or your beliefs,” Hamilton said. “We really just want to expand on anything that somebody has and make it work as a whole.”
Hamilton said she knew that because they were such a new group, it would be a lot easier to collaborate ideas on what they wanted to stand for.
“U.N.I.T.Y. promotes diversity, empowerment and uplifting one another — and having fun in the process,” Hamilton said.
In late October, the organization sought the help of some already established greek organizations as well as the football team to sponsor their first event as an official organization — the Powderpuff Football Game.
“Sha’Cora and Jordan, we’re all good friends and they were telling me about the event so I said, ‘Hey, let’s give it a try,’” Demonte Hood, junior in family studies, said.
As a member of K-State’s football team, Hood used his connections to spread the word and got his teammates involved to help support their event by coaching the teams — which were played by different sororities like Kappa Delta, Zeta Tau Alpha and Sigma Kappa. Hamilton said they chose the event as a way to get out of the norm.
U.N.I.T.Y. members plan to do more events in the spring semester to continue informing students about the organization’s mission and encourage them to join in.
“If we can get people to support and join our movement, which many of them have, then we can accomplish our goal of bringing unity to campus faster,” Jackson said.
Hamilton said that since the organization is so new, it’s easier for each member to have a louder voice and collaborate on ideas on how they want to be represented.
“You know, you’re always used to being with who you know, whether it be skin color or whoever you click with throughout your life, your high school, your college — whatever,” Hamilton said. “College should be that opportunity where you expand.”
U.N.I.T.Y. meets in room 206 in the K-State Student Union every Wednesday and is open to all students.
