Help Black Students Hurt by Texas Anti-DEI Bill

Hello!

We are Afrikan American Affairs (AAA), a registered student organization at the University of Texas at Austin. We create a supportive and inclusive space for Black students on campus and individuals in the Austin community.

We serve anyone interested in learning about Black culture by offering leadership development and student-centered events throughout the year. This is accomplished by offering dynamic signature programming including New Black Student Weekend, welcoming 120 incoming students annually, Black Graduation, celebrating 250 graduating seniors and 650 guests each year, and Black Inauguration, honoring presidents of the 40+ Black student organizations for the past two years. AAA hosts an umbrella organization, the Black President’s Leadership Council, that is the unifying and advocating body for all Black student organization presidents.

Due to the recent “Anti-DEI bill”, Senate Bill 17, being enforced on campus, our organization was forced to disassociate from official campus support, funding, and supervision–such as the now-dissolved Multicultural Engagement Center. We lost all our main funding and aid from the university and were only notified a few weeks prior to the bill being instituted on January 1, 2024. AAA gets $9,500 a year from the MEC, but has been able to fundraise much more from other departments on campus — departments that are now scared to assist because they do not understand the parameters of SB 17. Our signature programs cost as follows:

New Black Student Weekend - $20,000

Black Student Leadership Institute - $2,500

Black Inauguration - $9,000

Black Family Day - $10,000

Black Graduation - $20,000

Black Org Support - $10,000

This loss of university support has left us in a vulnerable position, particularly as Black students represent only 4.5% of the student population at UT Austin. We are kindly asking for your support through any means (donations in food, event sponsorships, school materials, scholarships, grants, equipment, venues etc.) if you are able to at this time. Any support at this time would help and is greatly appreciated, however, monetary donations are especially critical for us to continue our programs and initiatives that benefit Black students and promote cultural awareness and student success on campus.

Please let us know if you would be able to support or sponsor our organization in any other way possible for the remainder of the 2024 school year, such as having an employer match your donation. We appreciate any donation made to our GoFundMe.

If you have any questions, words of support, or general inquiries, please reach out to us on social media @ut_aaa (Instagram and Twitter).

Thank you and best regards,

Afrikan American Affairs