Four graduates of Arkansas State University came to the Reng Student Union to share their experiences of being Black students at A-State. The graduates gave advice and answered questions from those in attendance.

The event was hosted by the Student Government Association, Student Philanthropy Council and A-State Alumni Association. Around 20 students attended. 

“Arkansas State was my first integrated educational experience,” said Thomas Hill, Ph.D. “I came from New Orleans and they dropped me in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The two communities couldn’t be more different.”

Hill came to A-State as a member of the ROTC and the track team. He was ranked as one of the best hurdlers in the world from 1970-1972. He won the bronze medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. 

Hill said during his time as a student at A-State, he was one of only a handful of African American students and as such he felt a need to be very active on campus.

“During those times, it was the activist ‘60s. Part of our job description was to ‘raise hell’ and we did a good job,” Hill said. “There were no faculty members or staff of color. I happened to be the president of the Black Students Association. We had a white faculty member as our adviser. We’ve always been able to mix and mingle as we went through this institution.”

Nikesha Nesbitt came to Arkansas State as a graduate student with a group of her friends. She said while many of the struggles Hill faced affected her as well, she excelled past many of her colleagues at A-State.

“A lot of people felt like we shouldn’t know the information and the knowledge that we did,” Nesbitt said. “We excelled at a ton of things where it was taking our counterparts four or five times to pass the exam.”

Nesbitt graduated from A-State in 2007 and currently works as the dean of University College.

Nesbitt said she was very active at A-State. 

“We also became disruptors and we made sure our voices were heard,” Nesbitt said. “We got a little discouraged and actually thought about leaving here. But that’s when we had those faculty members sort of rally around us and let us know that we belong and that we can make a difference for those behind us.”

Adrian Everett, director of multicultural affairs, said during his time as a student he was part of major changes to the campus. 

“This space in my freshman year was the recreation center. We had a coordinator at that time for multicultural affairs, but never a space,” Everett said. “So SGA decided to make part of the renovations to the Student Union into the multicultural space. I got to be a part of the benefits of that.”

Everett graduated from A-State in 2011 with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and again in 2013 with his Master’s in College Student Personnel Services.

Benjamin Mack was the youngest member of the panel, having graduated in fall of 2022 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology. He had Nesbitt as an adviser and credited her with helping him earn his degree. 

Mack said he would like to see more minority students in STEM fields, like himself. 

“For the first three years, there were just not a lot of students who looked like me in the science majors,” Mack said. “We were truly a minority in the science space. I knew the students who came in as chemistry majors with me, there were five of us. Of that five, maybe two made it all the way through.”

A common theme of the talk was getting help from faculty with being successful. 

“When I was under my adviser in the Student Activity Board’s leadership, his connection definitely motivated me to switch gears completely and become a professional in this career in higher education,” Everett said. “I’m still loving it and still trying to do the same thing forfor students every day.”

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