DBAN: Davidson Black Alumni Networking
On April 9th , I attended a DBAN program that provided a reasonable explanation to why it is so important for Davidson College to have a “black space”. The BSC is currently what is seen as the “black space” but that space is very small. I also have a hard time believing that this space would exist if the prior inhabitants hadn’t gotten kicked out. Originally, the safe space for black people wasn’t even a part the immediate campus, which sends a completely different message. I was very happy to learn above the persistent efforts of alumni who made it possible for the BSC to exist on campus. DBAN stands for Davidson Black Alumni Network and they said their goal was to “support, inspire and engage Davidson’s Black students and alumni academically.”
This program was centered around the importance of networking. I found this to be interesting because as an African American woman I know that the odds tend to be stacked against people of color when it comes to jobs. Making connections is a way for African American students to bypass some of the frustration associated with the job process. To be completely transparent, the types of frustrations I mean are ones like an employer not calling a black male back for an interview because of his name. In the classes I’ve taken so far at Davidson, it’s been made clear to me that sometimes color can trump qualification. During the networking part of the program, we were able to hear from various people about their experiences in their field. From finance to teaching, they were showing us that if we worked hard we could be successful men and women of color as well. It was refreshing to see so many people like me doing big things with their lives. The race and gender wage gaps have been brought up frequently during my time at Davidson. It is something that causes concern when I think about life after Davidson. We learn about people who get turned away for many reasons based in racism. Sometimes people that could have been a better qualifying candidate are turned down for the white candidate they choose over them. In an interview, Tom Allison said that “At every level of education, race impacts a person’s chance of getting a job.” I think this is something that all students of color think about a lot when they come to college.
The networking piece was my favorite because while we were learning about many different job opportunities, the alums were also making it very clear that if we needed help getting our foot in the door they were there to help in any way they could. Even though I am only a first year student, it was encouraging to hear that. It removed a lot of the worry about post college life. Overall, the DBAN program was a great experience. I learned the importance of networking is to make relationships with people because you never know how you will be able to help each other. It was also just really nice to hear another African Americans who went to Davidson say that they understood what we are going through. They provided reassurance by being successful and validifying the feelings we had.
Work Cited:
ThinkProgress. “A Black College Student Has The Same Chances Of Getting A Job As A White High School Dropout.” ThinkProgress. ThinkProgress, 25 June 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.
