VCC Magazine Fall 2019

Conscientious Diversity: Bluefield College’s Purposeful Push By Lydia Freeman

Bluefield College is a liberal arts college nestled in the Appalachian Mountains in Southwest Virginia. Many rural Appalachian towns are characterized as being homogeneous, but Bluefield College touts ethnic diversity that surpasses the national averages for colleges. “Diversity for me is having a campus

something to aspire too. You need that person in leadership to give them a model of what they can become. It means a lot to be in that space having started there. That means a lot to me.” Brogdon has recently produced a documentary called “Slavery in Black & White.” The documentary marks the four-hundred-year anniversary of blacks in America and the legacy of slavery and racism in America. Olive said that the film was viewed and discussed in September. The discussion focused on how churches can be advocates of justice, agents of healing, and voices of reconciliation. Brogdon worked with Reverend Travis Lowe, a pastor at a majority white church. The two men are both religious leaders and have invited their churches to come together for the documentary.  “Those are the types of opportunities that we are nurturing because that’s the type of dialogue and interaction that we believe helps in better understanding races and to see the commonalities that we have together rather than the differences,” explained Olive. “And as Dr. King often referenced, what matters is the inside of the individual rather than the color of his or her skin.” Olive also told another opportunity BC has to engage and partner with the local community. When the city of Bluefield was short on funds, they offered to lease the Herb Sims Auditorium to BC. This worried many black individuals because the center has been a pillar in their community. “There was a sense that it was being taken away from them,” explained Olive. “Sims worked there for years as the director of Parks and Recreation; many individuals were there as children. They feel Sims and the center have done much to enrich their lives and make them the individuals they are today. It’s given the college an opportunity to make assurances to the African American community that we recognize this is a community asset, and while we’ll use it for enhanced student programming, we still want to be a good community partner. “Over the last few months, Tonia Walker [the BC athletics director] came on board, and she and I have been meeting with key leaders in the African American community,” continued Olive. “We’ve been having conversations with community leaders because we want to have the engagement of the community. We want to have a true collaboration. This is one more level of the college and the community working in close relationship in Bluefield.” Olive said that individuals must have the opportunity to engage with each other and to listen deeply to one another in order for strong cross-cultural relationships to be formed. He recognized that students come to the school with “generational wounds,” as well as “misconceptions from someone’s upbringing.” “We are working to give people the opportunity to engage with people of different ethnic backgrounds and to know others who are of different skin colors,” said Olive. ‘From this our hope is that everyone will move closer to, from a faith perspective, that matches God’s desire.” Brogdon commended BC for continuing to strive to diversify the campus. “Schools can get a few African American faculty and staff, and they go back to the regular pattern,” Brogdon shared. “I don’t see that happening here.” Lydia Freeman is a teacher at KIPP ENC Public Schools in Gaston, North Carolina where she pushes sixth graders to think deeply and engage with historical, social and political spheres while practicing reading and writing. She writes often, engages deeply in conversation with friends, and strives to live purposefully in her community.

community that reflects our larger community,” said Dr. David Olive, president of Bluefield College. According to Olive, a diverse campus community provides preparation for interacting with the diverse community in the US. This diversity has not always existed at BC. Olive noted that since his time at Bluefield, he has seen a change in the student body makeup. An upswing of diversity began in 2011, the year football began, according to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPED). This data shows that from 2010 to 2011, there was an 11% increase of the African American students in the total student body. As the college’s student population shifted, the administrative team recognized the importance of hiring a faculty and staff that mirrored the student body. “We certainly have been intentional through our search process,” explained Olive. “Every institution of higher learning is always seeking the best equipped and talented individuals, but we have been giving careful attention to have different backgrounds or different ethnic groups represented. Again, we’re looking at finalists who are the very best in our application pool. But we’re looking with the lenses of wanting a faculty and administrative team that is somewhat reflective of our campus community.” Olive passionately told about two recent hires, who are also African American: Tonia Walker, the Athletics Director of Bluefield College, and Dr. Lewis Brogdon, the Dean of Institutional Effectiveness & Research and Associate Professor of Christian Studies. Olive described his surprise in both of these individuals being in the candidate pools because of their superior qualifications. He expressed how impressed he was with the experience and abilities they brought to the school. “You read their resumes and you wonder, ‘Why would they want to come to Bluefield College?’” Olive said. “Of all these places you could go, why here? But what we’ve heard time and time again is that they’re drawn to our mission. They’re wanting to invest themselves into that mission.” That mission is for Bluefield College to “be a Christ-centered learning community developing servant leaders to transform the world.” For Brogdon, his reason for returning to Bluefield extended beyond the mission. “Well, there are a couple of reasons: first, it’s my hometown,” said Brogdon. “I’m from Bluefield. I did my undergrad at Bluefield College, and then I went on to have a wonderful career. I was invited to theWhile House, and recently I was at the South African embassy. It all started as a student at BC. I had professors who saw something in my and encouraged me to be a professor. It was an opportunity to return and give back.”For Brogdon, working at BC has given him an opportunity to be a role model and mentor, especially for black students at a university with predominantly white leadership, faculty, and staff. “Being a dean at a primarily white school with a large amount of black students has been important,” Brogdon said. “It gives them

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