Ivan Okello, Mount Allison’s Black Student Advisor and Diversity Educator, holds his position with an optimistic vision of the future.
Okello has been with Mount Allison since fall of the 2019, and says his first change was to make programming and resources that centre Black students’ needs.
“That can be from what it means to be separated from family, or what it means to transition to an academic institution separate from the one a student maybe familiar with. Our Black students needed the resources, personnel, or staff members that they can come to,” says Okello.
“I was thinking of Black students’ needs in the delivery, or in the design, of those [student affairs] programs. I think something as simple as orientation for all students might seem like a small thing, but thinking about the needs for Black students, especially around building community or setting themselves up to be able to accelerate their studies like everybody else was important. For me, it was really working within those models to make sure that Black students have the same level of service, the same level of response, and provide advising to make sure that they’re able to make a well-informed and actionable decisions throughout their education.”
Okello is also a member of Mount Allison’s Anti-Racism, Education, and Response Team, where he plays an educational and supportive role.
“The Mount Allison Anti-Racism, Education, and Response Team plays a really important role in providing education on campus around matters of racism, racial discrimination, or also other aspects of discrimination, like microaggressions,” explains Okello. “My role is being involved in the designing of activities, like the International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which was really one of the founding motivations around the Anti-Racism policy that we have. I think just being able to use those opportunities to educate the university community on the policy and procedure for handling complaints, but also the education component, so that people know that whenever they have concerns they can reach out, or if they need to learn on their own, then there are resources that they can learn on their own if they choose to do so.”
Okello uses his position as Black Student Advisor to help Black students pursue their desired career path and educational goals, and celebrate the Black community in Sackville.
“One of the roles that I took up was really working closely with students when it came to writing support or academic support or academic mentorship,” says Okello. “The other thing that also we were able to do was to create a BIPOC mentorship group. The intention was really to make sure that Black students can seek mentorship from within campus, or external individuals in the community, that would give them advice in terms of career direction, degree choices, or how they can imagine themselves a few years down the down the line. That was really useful in allowing our students to think of themselves in some roles where they want to be educators working in the university in the future, or they want to go into science which is allegedly a predominantly white-dominated field, or women wanting to join in a predominantly male-dominated sector. I think it will [provide] creative opportunities for students to think of the possibilities, larger than they had initially envisioned.”
“[We] create a culture of belonging, whether it’s a celebration of Black History Month, or it’s the acknowledgement of other significant days, current events happening in the African continent or the Caribbean islands where students are eager to respond, but sometimes they feel limited because they’re isolated. For example, last summer students decided to participate in the Black Lives Matter protests in Sackville, and we got to do it, and I was able to just give them whatever support they needed to do it, so that at the end it’s not really a lack of support that stops them from being able to undertake whatever they choose to do.”
Okello held his position during 2020, and during (among other things) one of the biggest civil rights movements in global history.
“That was a generally difficult period for many individuals. For me, the surprising thing was just how complex and challenging it was, because it was a historic moment in an unprecedented pandemic, and also having students separated from their families. It wasn’t something you could wish away,” says Okello.
“I think probably the biggest thing that it revealed, for me was really the experience of students in Sackville. That it wasn’t this foreign, external event that happened in the US, but how relatable it was. And I think we could see that in the protests that happened in Moncton, St. John, Fredericton, and in Sackville. I think the challenge for me then was, how do we meaningfully create an environment that does not make that happen? Whether it means Mount Allison, whether it means at Sackville. Its challenging work and can be really hard to measure and say, from last summer to now, what difference have you attained? But I think there’s always a way that things can pivot to creating that kind of inclusive environment where people feel safe, that they belong, and they feel like they’re not ostracized for any other reasons.”
In terms of what Okello would like to see from institutions like Mount Allison to further anti-racism, he says that’s difficult to summarize.
“It’s difficult, because sometimes between what needs to be done, and when it needs to be done, it’s always not so easy to attain,” says Okello. “I’m really pleased that Mount Allison is currently undertaking that ongoing work that produces such desired results. But I wouldn’t want to also raise expectations to say that this will be achieved by this point, because anything to do with anti-racism is challenging work. A clear example is how the US, from slavery to now has this matter unresolved, and thinking that Canada as a country, too, has the history of this kind of challenge, again, somewhat unresolved. I think we’re undertaking the foundation and groundwork to make sure that we can excel in being an Anti-racist University. Whether it means, creating awareness or increasing education or accountability. The general consensus is that this is something that needs to be done. We need to repair relationships with Indigenous communities, and respond to the needs of the racialized people. When there’s consensus on that, that I no longer need to persuade you, or you don’t need to persuade me, then for me, I think we’re really onto something. Having that consensus, and then building on that, and I think we are getting to that point.”
