BAC

Board members and former board members pictured clockwise from center: Ruby Murray, ’92; Ernest Brevard, ’09; Bretticca Moody ’10; Anita Gadsden ’00; Otto German, ’73; Tiffany King ’05; Marlene Johnson-Moore ’10; Unnamed Alumnus; Renee Murray ’91.

The College of Charleston’s Black Alumni Caucus (BAC), an alumni group dedicated to facilitating the enrollment and education of Black students, and engaging and providing resources for Black alumni, celebrates two years since its summer 2012 founding. The BAC has a growing membership, with 11 board members and officers, including Otto German ’73 serving as chair.

Marlene Johnson-Moore ’10 is the board’s parliamentarian. She explains, “Serving as board members lets us actively support black alumni in maintaining a connection with the College.”

RELATED: Learn more about the Black Alumni Caucus

Ernest Brevard, another BAC board member and campus outreach and student program coordinator at the Office of Multicultural Student Programs and Services, reflects on the founding of the Caucus. “Many alumni, myself included, hoped for an easier way to stay involved with each other and with the College. John Bello-Ogunu, chief diversity officer at the Office of Institutional Diversity, heard what we were saying and set everything in motion,” he said. “The founding members, including the late Eddie Ganaway, created a mission, vision and strategic plan to engage with black alumni and open a lasting dialogue.”

In the last two years, the BAC has worked to establish a presence on campus by collaborating with many of the College’s various offices and groups.

“We have been working diligently to reconnect with black alumni through special networking events on campus and within the community,” Johnson-Moore said. “We hope to continue to provide a viable platform for black alumni to seek resources, support and leadership, in large part by working with the Alumni Association and the Office of Multicultural Student Programs and Services, among others.”

The BAC additionally hopes to use the successes and sense of community among its members to help recruit and retain black students. “Membership gives us the opportunity to help black alumni to fall in love with the College again, reconnect with fellow alumni, and tell the College of Charleston story to the next generation of students,” Johnson-Moore said. “It gives us a voice to enhance the College’s goal of increasing enrollment of African American students.”

RELATED: Meet the BAC’s board of directors

The next BAC event, the second-annual Black alumni reunion weekend, will be held from October 24 – 26, 2014, at locations throughout campus and the city of Charleston.