Harvard University undergraduate student Noah Harris, elected in November as the school’s first Black student body president, joins a growing list of African American students assuming such posts at predominantly White colleges and universities.
As reported by NBC News, those students include Jason Carroll of Brown University, Kahlil Greene of Yale University, Danielle Geathers of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Naomi Riley of the University of California, Los Angeles, where a contingent of Black student body presidents assumed office in May. In addition, Midshipman Sydney Barber is the first Black woman to become brigade commander at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Harris, 20, said that although he knew his election comes on the heels of racial and political a series of racial protests that began in May with the death of George Floyd, as well as COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement, the issues played significant roles in the outcome of their elections.
Harris added that his campaign, which ran on “building tomorrow’s Harvard,” raised $300,000 for Black advocacy and civil rights organizations with a focus on diversity, inclusion, health and student life, NBC reported.