Leader Impeders: Exclusion, Representation, and Campus Leadership
As our beloved campus community celebrates our eighteenth consecutive year as U.S News and World Report’s #1 HBCU, some of our oldest clubs and organizations are preparing for their centennial year, and we continue to revive and rebuild programs after the COVID-19 pandemic, it is no understatement to say that Spelman College is back and better than ever. Our campus continues to produce innovators, scholars, and leaders who leave the gates prepared for a life of accomplishment and “world-changing.” However, with all the excellence and dream-chasing energy in the air, we must continue asking ourselves, “Can we improve and how?”
Spelman College prides itself on its ability to foster and nurture the next generation of student leaders. Still, it’s important to consider whether access to the “student leader” role is truly accessible to all Spelmanites. Are there certain “-isms” that may discourage interested students from pursuing leadership? How can we break down these boundaries and change the culture?
Before dissecting, addressing, and discussing this phenomenon on campus, I must acknowledge my own inherent bias and privilege in addressing this topic. I identify as a cisgender heterosexual female. I am the president of a campus RSO and participate in several others. I have attended Spelman for over a year without personally experiencing any “-isms” while navigating the world of Spelman student leadership.
My road to leadership at Spelman has been filled with hard work and encouragement, but along the way I have found myself wondering why some of my peers were more hesitant about entering leadership spaces. I questioned why some of my gifted and motivated classmates felt this way and how our institution should work to eradicate the “-isms” that discourage students from pursuing Spelman leadership. The “isms” I’m working to tackle in this article range from colorism and texturism to this new idea of “lookism” and the power of aestheticism. These “-isms” are new but not-so-new phenomenons that have been brought to light as we strive for more inclusive and diverse spaces.
During my own Spelbound and Leadership Night experience, I felt that no one I saw on stage reflected the forms of leadership I knew I wanted to pursue. At Leadership Night, I believed the only pathway to leadership and notoriety at Spelman was through “the Big 3” (P.U.L.S.E, Miss Spelman Advisory Board, and SGA). All of the organizations presented to my classmates and I featured girls with long hair, make-up, heels, and perfectly uniform outfits. These standards perpetuated a cookie-cutter idea of leadership and success. And, I thought, with hard work, I could potentially fit into it. But, why is it that I equated my ability to achieve and effectively lead with my ability to adhere to the “-isms”?
Over the past several weeks I’ve taken time to sit down and interview past and present student leaders and hear their reflections on making it into leadership roles at Spelman.
Spelman senior Grace Quarterman currently serves as the Homecoming Director and a three-year member of P.U.L.S.E. (Programming for Unique and Lively Spelman Experience). Quarterman also served as the First-Year Class Council Co-Social chair during her freshman year. She said that her pathway to leadership began at New Student Orientation when she first saw P.U.L.S.E. and felt called to be a part of the ‘heartbeat of campus.’
From there she began as a P.U.L.S.E intern and worked her way up the ranks over the years. Quarterman reflected, “I felt the immediate urge to get out there and find a position that would set me up to change the world.”
Throughout our conversation, Grace shared stories about her leadership journey. She explained her leadership successes and growth, but also recounted her experience with the infamous ‘Spelmanite Imposter Syndrome.’ At Spelman, there is a constant feeling that everyone around you is doing more than you and that you don’t belong or deserve to participate. Quarterman said, “Spelman throws a lot of imposter syndrome at you, but a leader outshines the imposter syndrome and thrives off of their own confidence.”
The theme of imposter syndrome prevailed throughout several of my conversations. Perhaps the vast amount of imposter syndrome facing Spelmanites results from a historic lack of diverse representation on campus. Before making this claim, it’s crucial to ask if our current campus leadership reflects the diversity and progress we’ve made since decades ago.
After looking through the Spelman Archives of past and present leadership, I realized that our progress tackling the “-isms” at Spelman College has been a journey throughout history. Although great strides have been made, much of the official content published by organizations on campus consistently highlights uniformity and respectability. This visual trend has evolved but has maintained its essence even today. Through social media posts, campus flyers, and publications, many of the photos I found representing ‘The Spelmanite’ are often lightened, air-touched, and unvarying. The diversity I see daily as I walk past Cosby and the amphitheater was and is not reflected in the photos and other content used to represent ourselves to the broader public.
While this is not inherently negative, it could lead one to assume that extracurricular participation at Spelman requires a certain aesthetic. Past images of Miss Spelman pageant contestants, SGA leaders, and other prominent student leaders often consist of women with permed or straightened hair, light or brown skin, and similar body shapes. Overall, these similarities result in a significant lack of representation of Spelman’s diverse student body.
Former Miss Spelman and Blue Record Host, Diop Russell reflected on her experience serving in one of the most prominent RSO positions on Spelman’s campus. She explains that effective student leaders must recognize how the various “-isms” influence the Spelman community and beyond:
I believe it’s critical for student leaders to understand systems like colorism, texturism, anti-fatness, cissexism, homophobia, ableism, classism, etc.—recognizing how these forms of structural violence affect both themselves and others in their community. Leaders must acknowledge these dynamics and work to affirm and organize with those who are marginalized.
Diop also emphasized how she challenged these harmful systems of oppression through the initiatives and goals she prioritized as Miss Spelman:
As a queer, dark-skin Black woman with 4C hair, I was intentional about rocking natural hairstyles because I know them to be regal, cutting edge, and true to my identity. Beauty is political, and I used my platform to celebrate Spelmanites of all different shapes, shades, and sizes.
The current Miss Spelman Court possesses similar values and is currently putting in the work to emphasize student voices across campus. According to Second Attendant Fina Osei-Owusu, “A leader looks like a big sister to me. Growing up without a big sister, I entered Spelman looking for someone to aspire to.” From Fina’s insights, I realized that what we’re all looking for as young, bright-eyed freshmen is someone to look up to and connect with. For first years, this is the true value of representation.
To continue a legacy of sisterhood and belonging, we must work to change the culture where certain student voices are suppressed or even hidden. This begins in our encouragement and acceptance of all girls that enter through our gates and the continuous fight to remove the boxes and stigmas past Spelmanites have been subjected to. Current Miss Spelman, Mallory Butts, emphasized this sentiment, adding, “It doesn’t take just student leaders to change the culture but the intentionality of the student body to try and treat each other and ourselves well and build each other up in every way possible.”
To discuss the administrative leadership and representation of student government, I spoke with five members of the current Spelman Student Government Association (SSGA)—Cori’Anna White, Sydney Shaw, Ryan Bates, Kyla Emory, and Gabrielle Adams. I asked them about their experiences with aesthetics, the “isms”, and leadership. Many of them shared their indirect path to leadership and their view of the leaders that came before them and surround them today.
Gabrielle Adams, the SSGA Director of Compliance and Safety had similar opinions about the archetypical, exclusive nature of leadership at Spelman:
When I first entered I truly believed there was a Spelman archetype - the image of a put-together young woman, similar to a Whitley in A Different World, especially because of all the leaders that were presented to me when I first entered. However, as I’ve been here, I’ve realized that every single girl here fits into the image of a Spelmanite in their own specific way.
SSGA Secretary of Student Affairs Kyla Emory shared her reflections and said, “The -isms are embedded in our history, and ignoring them is dangerous… Having qualms about how we present ourselves as Black women plays into the problems of the outside world that we’re actively trying to combat.”
In the one place in the world that is supposed to be a sanctuary for Black women, we still find ourselves judging and othering one another. If we don’t put in the effort to love each other and wholeheartedly embrace our differences, we are subjecting ourselves to a life of continuous battling and strife. Spelman College is supposed to be our hiatus from the constant fight that is being a Black woman in an anti-Black and anti-woman world. My goal in discussing this topic with campus leaders was to find solutions on how we can change our campus culture of aestheticism and division before it takes a turn for the worse. I learned that almost all of us are passionate about abolishing the underlying toxic nature of campus culture and creating a space where our flaws, differences, and quirks are viewed and embraced as strengths rather than inhibitors.
In the words of SSGA Secretary of Institutional Research Planning and Effectiveness, Ryan Bates, “Make it your goal to encourage your sister, no matter how different her path may be from yours”.
Spelman College will forever be the epicenter and incubator for Black Girl Magic but we can’t truly claim to “raise the bar” if we do not embrace and uplift every student who enters these gates. Part of being a Spelmanite is granting every single individual around you the opportunity to be their authentic self and offering them the love and support needed to be a student leader. In order to make the choice to change the world, we first have to choose to change the norm.
