New Director of Black Excellence and Achievement aims to strengthen a community for Black students

Misty Levingston has been working on numerous events scheduled for this semester, including weekly lunch sessions and a student retreat. Photo courtesy of Chapman University

Chapman University welcomed Misty Levingston to campus this past summer as the new Director of Black Excellence and Achievement, a role she said she’s excited to be working in.

“Because the Black population of students is small, I think it’s important that Black students see each other to know that there is community,” Levingston told The Panther. “That’ll be some things that I’m working on in helping to bring the community together so that they know that we are here, we’re small, but we’re here, and I want them to feel seen, feel heard and know that this is their university too.”

Black students make up the second smallest ethnic groups on campus. Last fall, 163 undergraduate Black students were enrolled at the university, a number that has been steadily decreasing from the 177 Black students enrolled during the fall 2017 semester.

“This position for Chapman University, to me, shows that Chapman is recognizing that they need to make some changes and to bring a more diverse student body into the university,” Levingston said. “They’ve done that by creating a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office. I’m the second person to occupy this position, and to me, that means that Chapman is serious about making those changes.”

The past few months have been busy for Levingston, as she is working on plans for several events that she hopes will build a community for Black students and their families. One such event is a weekly lunch where the Black community on campus can eat lunch together and “be their authentic selves.”

Students who identify as women can attend the Sister Circle lunch event, while students identifying as men can attend the Brothers’ Real Talk lunch.

“(Students) can just be their true authentic selves and have real conservations about just life in general and how to navigate life,” Levingston told The Panther.

Levingston is working on Homecoming activities for Black students that would be held Sept. 30, Oct. 1 and Oct. 2. In addition, there will be a Black Family Reunion Homecoming and a Black Student Retreat, both of which will be held Oct. 8.

At the retreat, students will have the opportunity to attend resume-building workshops and learn time management skills and note taking. Levingston also said a Chapman screening of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” will be held Nov. 12.

Levingston previously worked at the University of La Verne as the Associate Director for Multicultural and Black Student Services. She said she got her start as a go-to resource for Black students while working events at California State University, San Bernardino.

This role wasn’t initially in her job description, but she decided to take it on after seeing that no one else was. 

“I saw that no one was taking on that role, and it wasn’t even in my job description; it was something completely different,” Levingston said.

She told The Panther her decision to help Black students in their college careers was influenced by experiences she had as a college student where she would “get the runaround.”

“I would ask somebody a question, and then they’d send me over here (or) send me over there,” Levingston said. “I don’t really feel like they were helping me. I feel like they were just passing me on to the next person. I thought, ‘What can I do in my role to help students feel like they’re not getting the runaround and that they are actually getting served, even if I don’t have the ability to serve them?’”

She said that if a student had a question about financial aid, she wouldn’t just tell them to go to the financial aid office. Rather, she would personally call the office and find the person who the student would have to contact in order to get their question answered so that way, the student wouldn’t struggle finding the help they needed.

“They know once they got to financial aid that this person was waiting (to) help them, and that’s the type of relationship I would like to build here,” Levingston said.

She told The Panther that having a position like this is important for any college campus, especially since student enrollment has been declining for university campuses across the nation since the pandemic. For Black students enrolled in a public two-year or four-year university, numbers have decreased each semester since 2020.

“What (the decline in Black student enrollment) means to me is that already, a population that is relatively smaller than other populations of students is even smaller, and they’re not going to see each other,” Levingston said. “I’ve been the only Black person in the room. I know how it feels. It can feel very alienating, (and) it can feel like there’s nobody there to support you.”

She said that having a position like this is important for Chapman and other campuses since Black students will be able to find support, advocacy and a space where they will feel comfortable voicing their concerns.

“These institutions of higher learning weren’t really developed with Black people in mind. That being said, we’re here,” Levingston said. “We need to know how to be able to provide services that everybody needs, but if someone speaks to you and looks at you like you shouldn’t be here, you might not come back to get that service. So, we need to make sure that people understand it’s an inclusive space.””

Justin Riley, a 2011 graduate from Chapman, held the same position earlier this year. However, Riley left the university in March to serve as the Vice President of Operations and Business Development for Hillman Grad Productions, a media and production company that strives to tell the stories of historically marginalized communities. 

In a statement to The Panther, Riley said that he is grateful for his time at Chapman and having the opportunity to support, mentor and guide students who have been overlooked and received little support in the past, citing this as one of his proudest accomplishments.

“I am confident that Misty will build upon the foundation that was laid and bring renewed energy and ideas to ensure Black students thrive at Chapman,” Riley said. “I will continue to serve in a mentorship capacity as an alumnus and look forward to seeing the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion grow under Dr. Reginald (Stewart’s) leadership.”

Levingston decided to work for Chapman because of a friend who received his Masters at the university and frequently returns to campus to talk with the student population. Her decision was also influenced by the creation of Chapman’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

“When I saw the position was available, I was like, ‘Okay, it‘s in my trajectory for my career,’” Levingston said. “‘Also, it is at a prestigious university that my friend, a Black man, continues to visit.’ So he must have had a good experience at Chapman.”

Levingston said that the challenges she has faced differ from university to university. At La Verne, they were financial, but at San Bernardino, it was the realization that every student is different.

“As much as you want a student to participate in something, if they have to work to support themselves, they’re not going to be able to participate,” Levingston said. “You can try to find a date, time and location that works for the majority of people, but you’re never gonna get everybody to participate in something, and you have to be okay with that.”

She also said that she had to understand the different demographics of students and how each student has specific needs.

“Just because they’re all Black students, you’ve got varying degrees of challenges with economic challenges,” Levingston said. “There’s no monolithic Black person, so you have to just incorporate all of that.”

Her challenge at Chapman, she said, will be to build the community aspect of Black students due to the lower enrollment, a similar challenge she faced at La Verne. 

“It’s a challenge I am eagerly working on,” Levingston said. “I can’t wave my magic wand, but what I can do is utilize some best practices that are industry-wide that can hopefully work here as well.”