Letter to the Editor: Thank you to USD and Vermillion

Dear USD and Vermillion community,

The Union of African American Students would like to take this time to send out a heartfelt thank you to the entire USD campus and Vermillion community for all the support you have shown to our organization over the last few years.

Every year we plan events with the mission to increase cultural diversity, educate the campus through interactive learning and bring the campus together with high energy and make every space we occupy an inclusive space through both words and actions.

Without your help this is not possible. Your beautiful faces and spirits come to events (even the ones without food!) and you make the events we plan on paper come to life. Whether we have 10 people or 200 people, we always manage to have a great time while being educated and slowly but surely breaking down barriers and building bridges to further unite us as a campus while acknowledging and appreciating the history and individuality of our unique Yote family.

From the open mic nights to Timeless to the Ruby Ball, you show us it is possible to have a good time united in diversity and we want to continue to Engage, Enlighten and Evolve not only as a campus, but also as an organization–and as people who will eventually be out in the world making a difference on a much larger scale beyond the walls of USD.

We must continue to push for cultural diversity on campus and at all of our events and continue to engage with students and guide them in evolving in thinking and in action, educating the campus on our history of resilience, courage, pain and highlight our contributions to the past and future.

We are more than just entertainment for the campus. We want to create the safe inclusive spaces for students to come together across campus from all organizations and walks of life to be themselves and be proud to be diverse Yotes.

We thank you. We love you all. Let’s continue to grow together.

-The Union of African American Students