During the first week of classes, the Office of Black Student Services (OBSS) hosts Mbongi Week, also known as Black Student Welcome Week. This week is intentional for Black students at Loyola Marymount University to build community with each other, including various activities such as poetry, a mixer, a yard show, and an opportunity for the LMU community to meet Kwyn Townsend Riley, the new director for OBSS.
The Yard Show is a Black Greek Life cultural event where National Pan-Hellenic Council members step, stroll, and chant. It is an opportunity for anyone looking to learn more about Black Greek Life and its culture, and this event will showcase how these organizations are integral to the Black experience at LMU.
Mbongi Week was designed following a blueprint set forth by Cheryl Tawede Grills, Ph.D., psychology professor and director of the LMU Psychology Applied Research Center; Deanna Cooke, Ph.D., director of BCLA Engaged Learning; Brad Stone, Ph.D., associate dean in the LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts; and Charles Mason, associate director, transfer admission and enrollment services. “Each individual is a lighthouse when building a Black community here,” said Riley. The Mbongi Welcome Week events happening this week include:
Tuesday, Aug. 27, The Living Room, 7-9 p.m.
Tell Your Truth: Open Mic
Join OBSS in the Living Room for open mic poetry with featured poet Brandon Allen, a program director for Rescue a Generation and founder of Youth Writers Camp, a father, nationally renowned poet, TEDx Speaker, and author. For Allen, his life’s mission is to be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.
Wednesday, Aug. 28, The Mbongi Spot, 7-8:15 p.m.
LMU Black Community Mixer
OBSS is partnering with the Black Student Union and the Black Faculty Staff Association for a Black community mixer, further insight into the Black community at LMU.
Thursday, Aug. 29, The Mbongi Spot, 5-7 p.m.
The Mbongi Ceremony
Set the tone of the year right. Join us in cultural drumming, dancing, and more.
Friday, Aug. 30, Regents Terrace, 7-9 p.m.
Meet the Greeks: D9 Edition Yard Show
Come meet the Black Greek Letter Organizations active at LMU. Groups will be stepping, strolling, and more.
Mbongi Week is also an opportunity to meet the new Office of Black Student Service director, Kwyn Townsend Riley. She began working at LMU this past July and wants the LMU community to know that she is all about love. “Love is what brought me to this work, higher education,” said Riley. “I am proud to be a sensitive person. Because of love, I am critical when it comes to everyone being able to feel like they belong. Love lights my praxis as a scholar, practitioner, and administrator. I have robust experience in the educational space and as an organizer. So, I am for the liberation of all folks. I want everyone to win, so I am reaching down to bring folks up with me.”
Riley described the Black student community at LMU as vibrant and non-monolithic, meaning not all of us are the same in appearance or ambitions and brilliant. “They are the future,” said Riley. “They are the ones our ancestors dreamed of.” Upon entering this role, Riley came up with some goals she set for her work with the community, and she has been working within a framework of the OBSS mission since 1968, a framework where trust, respect, and love play a significant role. Some of those goals include:
- To increase the visibility of Black courses offered by LMU Black faculty in a bite-sized visual for students;
- To widen the Black student leadership experience through conference offerings on campus or otherwise;
- To connect Black students to more travel abroad opportunities;
- To strengthen the relationship between Black students and the larger L.A. area and Black-owned businesses;
- To emphasize the Black community and its traditions at LMU;
- To uplift the interlocking oppressions between the Black community and other oppressed identities.
For Riley, the LMU community could be described as benevolent because “every single person I meet is so kind, from the person at the Coffee Cart to my colleagues,” said Riley. “There is a richness here of good people working for the good of people. It is very genuine. I am very fortunate.” Before LMU, Riley served as the inaugural cultural and affinity spaces coordinator at James Madison University in Virginia. In that role, she oversaw a budget to establish an atmosphere in new affinity spaces for ethnic identities at JMU. In addition to the coordinator role, Riley taught a Black poetry class and a multicultural leadership class. She earned a master’s degree in college student personnel. As a graduate student, she also served as a Bayard Rustin Fellow, Anti-Bigotry Fellow, communications associate for BYP100, and a social justice contributor for Sybil Wilkes.
Once Mbongi Week concludes on Friday, Aug. 30, Riley has begun planning the next program for OBSS during LMU’s Family Weekend, the Black Family BBQ on Saturday, Oct. 26, from noon-1:30 at the Mbongi Spot. In November, OBSS will host Kwanzaa celebrations in January and Black History Month.
