Kent elected to lead slate of BSL officers

College junior Robyn Kent was elected president of the Black Student League last night at a full meeting of the organization in the W.E.B. DuBois College House. Kent characterized the board as "enthusiastic, innovative, motivated" and eager to make change. Kent, who served as corresponding secretary for BSL last year, said she knew she wanted to run for the group's presidency last April. "I knew I was capable of the position after working very closely with [outgoing President] Kaplan Mobray," Kent said. "He gave me a lot of responsibility outside of being corresponding secretary. He knew that I could handle it, and that he could depend on me." Kent defeated Wharton sophomore Jamal Powell for the position. The president-elect said she has many goals for her administration, such as addressing "a lot of issues on campus that cannot be ignored." These issues include assigned living arrangements for first-year students, an issue which Kent said needs to be dealt with while "still in the recommendation stage." "I think it's important for all students to read the complete report of the Commission on Strengthening the Community," she added. Kent said she will also work to increase opportunities for interaction between members of different student groups. "A lot of students don't take advantage of co-sponsoring groups," she said, referring to past collaborative programming efforts between the BSL and organizations such as Hillel. "[Cooperation] is essential because you can share resources, tap into new resources and meet people you wouldn't have known before," Kent added. "It's important to find a common ground and work from there." One of Kent's personal goals is to change the BSL in a manner which will make it "truly representative" of all black students on campus, by emphasizing its social and cultural aspects, in addition to its political projects, during her term. Working with Kent on the new BSL board will be College sophomore Onyx Finney as vice president, and College freshman Keron Smith as treasurer. "I'm looking forward to taking on the responsibilities, challenges and obstacles that will be facing us in the future," Finney said. She added that she wants to build a stronger relationship with the West Philadelphia community. Engineering freshmen LaShanta Johnson and Ipyana Critton will serve as corresponding secretary and recording secretary, respectively. College freshman Angine Harriott was chosen as BSL representative to the Student Activities Committee, and College freshman Obinna Adibbe was selected as BSL freshman representative. Engineering sophomore Cardell Orrin is the newly-elected parliamentarian.