BSC President Nyah Anderson and Co-President Mesgana Teklu
It was just over a year ago when George Floyd’s murder precipitated a nationwide reckoning with racism and police violence in America—a struggle that continues to be examined and waged today. More locally, at Tisch, a group of students led a similar reflection inside the walls of NYU, identifying gaps to be filled to inform an antiracist future. Known formally as SARI (Students Against Racial Injustice), this group was committed to reexamining the school’s pledges to inclusion and diversity, and more specifically anti-Black racism. Ultimately their work became the catalyst for the founding of the first-ever Black Student Council (BSC) at NYU Tisch.
At the start of the 2021 spring semester, Tisch undergrads Nyah Anderson and Mesgana Teklu were inaugurated as the first-ever president and co-president, respectively, of the newly created Black Student Council. The organization endeavors to support and represent Black students and students of color by working with affinity groups, hosting events, and presenting opportunities centered around the Black experience. At its most pivotal, the BSC is conceived as a space that protects and advocates for Black students.
Ahead of a summer of significant planning for the council’s future, Anderson and Teklu took a moment to reflect on their work to date and how—along with the council’s 8-person E-board—they are pursuing more protective and supportive spaces for Black students at Tisch.
Tell me about your path to Tisch and what propelled your involvement with the Black Student Council?
Nyah Anderson: I was originally very interested in music therapy when I was applying to colleges, and I applied to Tisch’s Drama program. I’m very much in love with performing and singing, but I guess I’ve been taught that you can’t give in to wanting to be an actor. I still applied, though, and after getting into Tisch I fell in love with the school. I’m now in The Meisner Studio, but I’m also minoring in Child & Adolescent Mental Studies (CAMS) at the College of Arts & Sciences and minoring in music at Steinhardt. I feel really passionate about using performance to change people’s lives, whether that be through visual art, vocals, or dance.
In 2020 I was doing Black Lives Matter protests in my community. Then when I heard that a group at Tisch was thinking of making something like a Black council, I said “Sign me up!” I eventually was nominated for the president position and I was so invested in finding a way to bring life into the school that was supportive and protective of people of color and of Black people, most specifically. When I first got to Tisch I didn’t see the representation that I was told about, and I was looking for support and representation. I wanted to see more people that look like me doing things that I was doing, and I was having a hard time finding that. When I found that they were making a Black Student Council, it gives way more foundation and way more protection. After you leave here, you still have contact with the council, and I’m just so happy to be part of the inaugural year.
Mesgana Teklu: I’m a first generation student. My family is from East Africa, and I was born and raised in Seattle. Tisch has been my dream school since middle school, and I’m now in my second year studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. My first love is music—I write and I sing. But I love NYU because they emphasize the fact that my career path is not just my skills and talents, but that this is a collaborative industry and it’s about working with other people and getting to know their experiences to create art.
My focal point is to use theatre as activism. I feel like there is no better way to change the world than through art, and this world needs a lot of healing. I want to play a part in truly understanding and feeling people on a deeper level and helping to elevate them. That feeds into my work with the BSC because we want to elevate Black people; we know how it feels to be unrecognized and unsupported. Considering the climate, it was important that Black students have voices that are speaking up for them. Not just any voices, but voices that have similar experiences as them.
What are some of the avenues of support for Black students that the council has carved out or that you’re looking forward to down the road?
Nyah: We recently had a graduation party to celebrate the Black grads from Tisch and give them a space to network and make friends. From the viewpoint of both the BSC and the student body, we’re very in need of rest and some kind of replenishing. We’ve been drained physically and mentally without having a break, and we decided it would be great to create a space where people could meet other people and network and share work—but where it doesn’t feel like work to do that. Mostly, we want to foster a space where people feel like they can grow and be seen and heard.
Mesgana: One of our teammates mentioned the importance of not being viewed as secondary to Tisch Undergraduate Student Council (TUSC). There is TUSC, and then there is the Black Student Council, and we have just as much power and voice and influence in this community. We are not lesser than or not equipped. We can provide a place that is welcoming and comforting for everyone.
In the wake of last summer’s racial unrest, how can the BSC build on the momentum of recent awareness?
Nyah: Throughout quarantine I had become negatively charged by the phrase “safe space.” I had heard it so many times and it never felt like a safe space; it felt like a cornered space. A lot of my problem with the George Floyd aftermath was that people were acting as if his death happened just to Black people, and it wasn’t about him as a human dying. That made me feel so upset. So I liked when people started saying brave space, but I’m leaning toward creating a space within NYU where Black students don’t feel like they are being cornered into being Black, but they can feel protected throughout the entire institution. This should be a space that is speaking on behalf of the Black student body. We are there to be the voice for the voiceless.
Mesgana: Going into next year, I want to see a place where people—and especially Black students—don’t feel like they’re drowning. I want the future Black students of Tisch to feel inspired, to feel propelled to do more. It can be easy to feel like you’re drowning in a space that was never meant for you, and so we are busting down walls and [using] that negativity as stepping stones to get to where we want to be.
Heading into the fall semester, how does this team plan to work collaboratively—whether remotely, or safely in person—to hit the ground running?
Nyah: This summer is going to be a lot of us just getting to know each other—a lot of retreats, movies, etc. [It will be] a lot of seeing who we are as people and trying to figure out what our roles look like. We need to determine if we want to change our constitution, and then decide what our mission statement is going to be. So far, Zoom has become home for getting to know the rest of the team.
Mesgana: Our team is so beautiful, and they come with so much energy every time we get on the phone. Keep in mind, we’ve never met each other in person. We have group chats, and sometimes we’ll be texting at 3 in the morning checking in and seeing how people are doing. People who have never had an in-person experience with one another have created such a beautiful community in the few weeks that we’ve been speaking. That’s because each and every person on our council understands that if you want to branch out and create community, it first has to happen with us.