Sonoma State takes pride in being a university that embraces diversity and different racial identities within its population of over 7,000 students. This past Weds., Oct. 20, SSU teamed up with Dr. Malik Boykin, a professor at Brown University, to offer a virtual lecture for students regarding the necessities of embracing a multiethnic campus community. Boykin has his doctorate in Social and Personality Psychology, and also works on creating music. 

During his years in university, Boykin was heavily involved with his fraternity, and he believes that having been a part of a fraternity makes it much easier to relate to college students. He understands that prejudice alone in Greek life and other Panhellenic organizations affects many students of color yearly, and he went on to share his experiences with combating it throughout the presentation.

In another lecture series, Boykin discussed the fact that, “many of his fraternity brothers have fallen to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Black people are getting it the worst.” At this point, COVID-19 is something that all students and faculty are well familiar with, and the fact that Black people are experiencing prejudice and receiving less care during a public health crisis is something that cannot be ignored. This is one of the many points that Boykin brought up to students, and was definitely one that sparked a lot of interest within listeners.

When asked about the prejudice that plagues students of color, Boykin believes that it “cannot be fixed globally, and that there is more of a chance to fix it in your community. However, people are still going to do whatever they want.” He wanted the listeners to realize this is not a problem that can be fixed overnight, and also to not carry the anxiety of fixing people’s viewpoints. Boykin stressed the importance of understanding the psychology of prejudice, and spoke from a place of acceptance that people will view the world differently than him. We know that racism and prejudice is not a problem one person can fix, but educating others on what it means to do your part within your community will make all the difference. 

Boykin believes that we need to give back to our community and invest what we can, in order to create a better multiethnic environment for the future of Sonoma State. Boykin continued to stress the idea of leaning into service, and spreading positivity, as he knows that this is what our communities need. Although he has experienced prejudice throughout his life due to being Black, he has not let that get in the way of being a successful professor, hip hop artist, and person wanting to promote societal changes within our world. 

Having Sonoma State bring in well-educated and passionate people like Boykin are great educational opportunities for students. Events like these are opportunities that our peers need to take advantage of, because the information that Boykin is spreading to students is important for all to hear. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has brought our world a lot of unwarranted changes, being able to hold Zoom conferences with insightful speakers has been a huge benefit. After all, it’s no guarantee that Sonoma State would be able to have these speakers visit the campus during the pandemic, so Zoom is a great alternative to be able to have these speakers share their stories.

With Psychology being one of the most impacted majors at SSU, many students have found Psychology-specific events interesting and engaging. Along with this, having a Psych professor speak was very timely for our campus community, as Boykin was able to share some very important knowledge with students. At the end of the Zoom event, students were given the opportunity to ask Boykin questions, and it is often easier to have your voice heard in Zoom conferences like this one.

Sonoma State will be offering lecture series throughout the semester with insightful and passionate guest speakers, in order to educate students about what is going on in our world through someone else’s eyes. These events aim to help students understand how to embrace diversity, as well as learn about the different types of prejudices that other people of color may face on a daily basis. Boykin was able to get his teaching across in a way that was clear and concise and made sense to students, and his background as a Psychology professor truly helped him get his points across to the campus community.