The SU System Celebrates Its Students

On March 10, the Student Government Association held a virtual Pretty Wednesday inside the Union’s Ballroom via Instagram Live. The event was thrown in honor of Southern University’s 141st Founder’s Day. Things looked a lot different compared to a normal Pretty Wednesday. The only people that were able to turn up in person for the event were the 90th Miss Southern University, Kennedie Batiste, and the 77th Student Government Association President, Chandler Vidrine. DJ Neff was also there mixing up a playlist. Miss Southern, along with the SGA president showed attendees how campus life used to be pre-COVID by demonstrating the SU Shuffle for the Instagram Live audience.
The purpose of the event was to talk about the history of Southern. Southern University became the first state-funded institution of higher learning for Black people in Louisiana in 1880. It is still the flagship of the Southern University System, the only system of Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the nation. The Southern University System was created in 1974 by constitutional mandate, which fashioned it into the nation’s only historically black 1890 Land-Grant University System. Presently, the System includes five institutions.
Those being Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (est. 1880), Southern University Law Center (est. 1947), Southern University at New Orleans (est. 1956), Southern University Shreveport (est.1964), and the Southern University Cooperative Extension Program (est. 1972), which became Southern University Agricultural, Research and Extension Center in 2001. Each institution’s SGA Presidents and Queens were in attendance of SUBR’s Instagram Live. They shared some more background on the founding of their Southern University locations. “It was important for us to have this event so students could know the knowledge behind their schools that they attend,” shared Miss Southern Kennedie.
A lot of students were disappointed that Pretty Wednesday was held virtually. Even the freshmen Class of 2024 has yet to experience a proper Pretty Wednesday. Beyonce Landry, a freshman Nursing major from Houston, Texas said, “I think we should be able to have in-person Pretty Wednesdays in the Union Ballroom with a student limit and mask guidelines since we have been doing events that way lately anyway.” Unfortunately, that is not the way the University intends on doing Pretty Wednesdays.
According to SGA, the University would like to be cautious of the Coronavirus. “For Founders Week, we reflect on how Southern University has come to be what we know and love now. Pretty Wednesday has become a staple on campus, and it is important for us to do what we can to provide some sense of normalcy during the pandemic. The Virtual Pretty Wednesday was a great way for us to do that while continuing to be as safe as possible,” stated SGA President Chandler.
If only we could go back in time to those Pretty Wednesdays where we got dressed up, watched the Greeks stroll, ate wings, and enjoyed each other’s company with the Sun shining bright. Although students were finally able to take part in Pretty Wednesday virtually, we still cannot wait till we are back in person and outside the Union.