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Derrick Williams
Derrick Williams got a taste of media exposure when he was still at Little Rock Central High School. George W. Bush, then a presidential candidate, visited the school, where Williams, the student government president, was the sole teen invited to a panel discussion with the candidate. When the issue of school vouchers came up, Williams spoke forcefully against them, telling Bush he believed they would undermine public education. At one point, after Bush’s remarks, Williams asked, “May I rebut?” “Sure, it’s your school,” replied Bush. Williams has no problem speaking his mind. In fact, he has a problem not speaking his mind. “If I know an issue has a level of importance, I don’t feel I can sit back and say nothing,” he says. The political science major was equally forthright when he became president of the University’s student government, UGBC. Williams says he ran for office because he wanted to move the campus “past an attitude of tolerance to an attitude of acceptance.” Shortly after Williams assumed the presidency of UGBC, the group invited filmmaker Michael Moore to speak at Boston College. When Moore took to the podium, about 100 students stood up and raised their fists to publicize their demands for more AHANA faculty recruitment, a dean of AHANA descent in the College of Arts and Sciences, and an ethnic studies major. The speaker, tipped off to the protest by Williams and other students, shook the protesters’ hands, then explained the cause to the audience. Some administrators weren’t happy, says Williams, but others applauded the effort. Regardless, the University supported the cause. Not long after Moore’s speech, Williams was asked to serve on the search committee for assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, where he hoped to buttress a commitment to diversifying hires. During his senior year, Williams was the student representative on a committee evaluating the Black Studies Program. Energetic and talkative, Williams arrived at Boston College eager to get involved. He jumped into several organizations his freshman year: the debate team, a rhythmic dance club, the Voices of Imani choir, and Black Student Forum. Williams will continue to pursue his political interests after graduation, as a legislative correspondent for Senator Blanche Lincoln, of Arkansas. Dan Bunch, the Black Student Forum advisor, noticed Williams’s leadership qualities immediately. “He’s a leader,” Bunch says. “I could see it right away from the motivation, the interest, the follow-through. He’s driven. He wanted to make an impact on the community here at BC.” Photo: Derrick Williams with Gasson Hall. |
