Hundreds of Marshall University students are expected to gather on the Huntington campus on Wednesday, Oct. 24, to take part in the first We Are … Family! Unity Walk Celebration.
Maurice Cooley, director of the Center for African American Students’ Programs, said the event was created to give all Marshall students the opportunity to come together to celebrate their unity and the fact that they are all part of the same “family,” and to recognize their individual differences.
“We all rejoice and celebrate being a part of the Marshall family,” Cooley said. “I don’t know of any other university where students have as much pride and exhilaration about their university as Marshall University students. We recognize that with the massive amount of students and the large number of organizations, we are all part of the same family, but we have never come together to celebrate together. We’ve never celebrated as a family.”
That’s the goal – to celebrate as a family – of Cooley and the Center for African American Students’ Programs, the Student Government Association, Student Affairs, Greek Affairs, the Athletic Department and Residence Services, all of which are sponsoring the event.
“We want to increase and instill more pride in who we are,” Cooley said. “We are all Marshall.”
The Unity Walk Celebration begins at 6 p.m. at or near the Memorial Student Center plaza. Students who are not affiliated with any organization will meet on the plaza. Students from organizations will meet in groups in a line expected to extend from Buskirk Field to Old Main to Drinko Library to Corbly Hall. Cooley is expecting more than 500 students to participate.
A DJ on the plaza will “crank up,” Cooley said, the song “We Are Family,” which will be the cue for the student organizations to begin walking toward the plaza, where they will meet up with the other students. Many will be carrying banners, Cooley said, and each group will have its own chant.
“They’ll arrive here on the plaza and we will have celebratory music,” Cooley said. Each group will have a designated speaker, who will talk for 30 seconds. The students will then be treated to food and drinks.
Cooley said all student organizations, including all athletic teams, are expected to be represented.
Faculty and staff are invited to participate, as are Marshall alumni in the community. Cooley said he already has received requests to conduct the event as part of homecoming activities beginning next year.
