By Kim Mousseau

In fall 2019, a committee assembled to create a conference to “educate, empower and motivate students to strive for excellence in education.” The idea was to gather students, alumni, faculty, staff and community members for a day of discussion primarily centered around issues impacting men of color. The inaugural conference, or summit, was scheduled for spring 2020. And then, COVID-19 arrived.

Richie Sebuharara, assistant director at the Multicultural Resource Center and one of the conference committee chairpersons, explained how the pandemic changed the course of the spring summit.

“The developing situation around the pandemic posed a big challenge during the planning,” Sebuharara said. “We were less than a month out from the intended conference day when everything shut down. We considered postponing until fall (2020), but we were firm in our decision that this should be a face-to-face experience. We didn’t want to go virtual in our first year, so we decided to wait.”

The following year, the committee reconvened to plan the inaugural Men of Color Summit for spring 2022. Along with Sebuharara, planning members included Jennifer Keegin, associate director for campus activities; Derek Jorden, resident director, Residential Life; Quanison Wright, deputy chief, New York State University Police at Binghamton; Tanyah Barnes, associate director of operations, Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; JR Beckford, project assistant, CSTEP; Kalis Nunes, community director, Broome Community College; Andrew Morrison, Iota Theta Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; and student members from the Men of Color Scholastic Society and the Student Association.