BSA president Solomon urges student activity

Senior Joseph Solomon’s picture is on this page twice. It’s a rare occurance, but Solomon’s activism puts him in the spotlight more often than not.

From Fort Hood, Texas, Solomon, 22, is one of the newest Student Government Association senators, he’s the president of the Black Student Association, he’s emceed the past three Patriot Idol competitions and he said he’s going to be a sportscaster for basketball games here on campus.

Solomon sat down with the Talon to answer a few questions about the future of the campus and his involvement.

What made you decide to come to this University?

It was actually basketball. I was playing basketball at Letourneau my first year and we came here to play one night and I saw the gym and I was like “this is awesome.” So I talked to one of the players after the game. I found out how cheap it was that’s when I made the move over here.

What position did you play in basketball?

Power forward and shooting guard.

You’re president of BSA, when did you decide to get involved with BSA?

I’ve been in BSA since the first year I got here. Last year my second year I was communication officer. The previous president was graduating and they needed someone to step up. I knew I wasn’t playing basketball this year and I wanted to be more involved.

Why did you decide to stop playing basketball?

I’m just trying to graduate. I’m getting real close and I don’t want to take any chances. I needed to work too. That was a decision I had to make. I’m still very involved with the team. I just got offered to be the sportscaster for the basketball games.

Why is BSA important to the campus?

BSA is important to the campus because we bring diversity, we bring excitement, we bring activity. It’s not an organization just for black people. It’s about having more things for the campus to do and also in a political and a social stance “upgrade” [the campus]. It’s a small campus but were here to help and grow.

What sort of issues does BSA deal with on a regular basis?

Getting whatever done that needs to be done. We’ve never done voter registration before I was here and it probably won’t happen again for another four years, so politically we’re trying to get more of our members to go to SGA meetings. On a social standpoint I think we bring good activities – the auctions, the spring bling, usually we throw a party in November. I think those kind of things are not very serious, but they’re just to bring more social life [to campus].

On a more serious note, the 9/11 Unity Picnic?

Of course you can’t forget about the September 11 event. That was good. Last year we focused on the tragedy of 9/11. We played the video that had phone calls from 9/11 and it brought the mood down. I wanted to have a different focus this year. I think it was good because we really got students together just like America came together after the 9/11 attacks. That was the best we had ever seen America come together in my generation, so for that to happen I wanted to replicate that in a small setting. That was the whole thing behind the Unity Picnic. It wasn’t the “9/11” picnic.

You’re pretty active on campus; you’re in a lot of organizations and SGA. What drives you personally to be so active?

I guess my dad. My dad is very political person – he ran for city council and when he was in school he did a lot of political things. I want to see this campus grow. That’s one of my main things – what can make the campus better outside the classroom. That’s one of the reasons I joined the SGA. That’s really my motivation behind getting involved as much as possible – getting my hands on as many things as I can without stretching my abilities too far. I really want to make student life on campus better. It’s getting better but I want to come back on campus in years and say “I started that.” Our campus is growing in population and culture.

Where do you see the campus going and what kind of changes have you see over the last couple of years?

We definitely have a lot more students organizations and from a demographic standpoint minorities have gone up a lot since I’ve been here. Of course the fraternities and sororities are here and I really think they’re great for the campus. They’re helping out with other student organizations to bring events to campus to have a more social feel – a more community feel. Also the dorms, I definitely think that’s great for the campus. I think it brought more participation to on campus events and sporting events.

Do you think a bigger school or smaller school is better?

I would say this school is better. I tell people this all the time and it’s not a sales pitch – this school is a good size for me because it’s not too small and it’s not too big. I went to LeTourneau, which had 1,200 students and it was too small for me. On the other hand UT Austin is 45 minutes from my hometown, and it’s way too big. I didn’t want to get caught up in the party life and all that. This school size is big enough where I won’t get distracted.

What do you think could be improved on this campus?

On campus housing. That would be a factor in having more participation in campus events. At LeTourneau we had a talent show every year. Now LeTourneau only had 12,000-13,000 students there but at that show there would be nearly 1,000 people there. Now if we had 85 percent of our students show up to an event that would be crazy. I think that has to do with on-campus housing because [LeTourneau] requires students to live on campus if they’re under 22 or 90 credit hours. On campus housing would bring that. It would be a big step for having more community events and a traditional feel.

Anything else you want to add?

Go vote.

By Allen Arrick Editor in Chief