In recognition of their academic achievements, MSA members are honored and celebrated on, front stage as they are given their sashes upon graduation. Photo courtesy of MSA.
By Anthony Vasquez, Assistant Section Editor
The Male Success Alliance (MSA) is an organization focused on providing undergraduate men of color with academic resources, mentorships opportunities, and improving retention and graduation rates. With their annual Spring Summit approaching April 9 and 10, the Bulletin took a deep dive to explore what MSA is all about.
SIDEBAR INFORMATION: MSA’s annual Spring Summit returns after its cancellation in 2020. The summit will take place virtually on a two-day basis exceeding the length of previous events. Day one of the summit is on April 9, from 9:30 a.m to 3:30 p.m and day two on April 10, from 9:30 a.m to 2:30 p.m. The last summit was part of the organization’s 10th anniversary in 2019. This year’s event is titled, “Building Bridges of Consciousness: Supporting Male Students of Color,” as it aims to provide resources that students may not have access to because of the pandemic.
“This year we are inviting middle school students, high school students, undergraduate students enrolled in a two-year or four-year college, professional and graduate program candidates, administrators, faculty, staff, parents and guardians,” MSA said on their online page.
The event will feature guest speakers, 15 workshops, digital food vouchers, and Spanish workshops. As well as two themed events highlighting the “Empowerment through the Arts” and “Cultural Empowerment DJs #CatchTheVibe #YKTV.” One of the named keynote speakers is Shaun King, writer, one of Time Magazine’s 25 Most Influential People on the Internet in 2018, and civil rights activist. As well as Wisdom O. Cole, Interim National Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Youth and College branch of the NAACP. For those who would like to register for the event click here.
According to a Daily Breeze article, MSA’s increased growth came after Mardel Baldwin, a former student body president and member of MSA, wrote a letter to the campus’s administration expressing his concerns for low graduation rates. This led Baldwin to join the organization to raise awareness on this issue.
Birthed by an idea from seven California State University, Dominguez Hills students in 2009, MSA continues to follow its three core principles; conscious, competent, and committed.
This program and its fundamentals were highly effective in the first six years. According to the California State University website, MSA was the first program of its kind in the CSU system. “Reports show that MSA’s first 158 members boasted a combined 90 percent retention and graduation rate from 2009-2015.”
Since then, to help increase these high retention rates and practice their ideologies, they extended branches towards specific causes. The Excellence by Design branch is their latest student support initiative tasked to improve retention and graduation rates of first-year Black male students. The program is currently being led by CSUDH alumnae Makonnen Tendaji and Leonidas Sloan, who also serves as the project coordinator for their Success Expanded through Exposure and Development (MSA S.E.E.D) Program. Their first-ever event was a virtual seminar called “We Lit” which served to educate and raise awareness to their members on Black higher education through teaching and evaluating Black history.
The second branch is MSA’s Success Expanded through Exposure and Development (MSA S.E.E.D), intended to advance an alternative method of education centered through a social justice lens. In S.E.E.D, members of the organization serve as mentors for local middle and high schools. They provide mentees with academic guidance and confidence to pursue higher education. Former MSA President and CSUDH alumnus, Frank Rojas, took part in MSA S.E.E.D in a “Freedom Schools Program,” a six-week literacy program rooted in social justice.
Rojas was in charge of teaching students and presenting them with literature that embodied their own identities. He saw the fruits of his labor with the connections he built with people over time as a mentor for young adults.
“Some of the students I did mentor are now in college and it’s cool to see that growth,” Rojas said. “I have some of their moms on Facebook and they’ll message me in Spanish saying muchas gracias.”
Rojas contributed to the organization’s development and the redefining of the space. Through his journey and conversations held in the space, he was able to openly come out as gay to his fellow brothers. One of his contributions was publishing a book called, “Portraits of My Brothers,” where he highlighted some members and showcased their personal stories underneath their staple suits. The book was distributed to attendees of the 2019 Spring Summit, but some of these stories are available via Instagram.
But Rojas admits being part of MSA was not an easy task.
“I worked so hard to create these spaces for others to be comfortable in but I wasn’t doing that for myself,” Rojas said.
With this in mind, Rojas considered leaving the group after coming out but was embraced and given the opportunity to use his voice and develop allyship for MSA within the LGBTQ+ community. He was able to host the first Queer Men of Color Conference in 2018, as well as workshops teaching members to become allies and inviting off-campus speakers. Now studying at the University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Rojas shared how some of the students are finding it foreign to have these deeper conversations when through MSA he already had them.
Today the organization aims to combat some of the cultural forces working against men of color, like the lack of male role models in their lives, the concept that studying isn’t masculine, and serving nearby communities.
While the majority of MSA members are men, women have previously served on the executive board and they are open to non-male members. “Any student can join MSA regardless of their gender,” MSA Director Tony Little said. “The very tenets of the MSA organization are to champion social justice and counter systemic racism and prejudice in all forms.”
MSA continues to serve its college students and members outside of the community virtually. Recently, they invited Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party to speak with students over a webinar..
There are many takeaways that MSA members grasp during and after their involvement. As Rojas puts it, MSA, like all of us, have blind spots, but through his experience and involvement in the program, MSA was able to confront some of their own.
“Some brothers, they would just wear the suit but not really be about the work and I think you have to do both if not be more about the work and then the suit because then you’re not really what MSA is about you’re using it as clout,” Rojas said.
Since the pandemic began and online instruction was put in place, MSA lost a physical space on campus but never lost their commitment to their work. They continue to operate virtually, hosting online events via Zoom and continuing to stay in touch with students to ensure they are receiving help and succeeding academically. If you are interested in reaching out to MSA or gaining more information on becoming a member, they host “Brother2Brother” virtual sessions, where students can speak with a member directly. Each member’s schedule varies in availability.
For more information and updates on CSUDH’s Male Success Alliance, follow their social media platforms here:
Twitter: @MSA_CSUDH
Instagram:@malesuccessalliance
Facebook: CSUDH Male Success Alliance