In Power 50 Years Later

“I’m now able to appreciate shared traditions that wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for the desegregation of UGA,” says Josh Delaney, student body president at the University of Georgia.

This year, UGA marks the 50^th anniversary of desegregation at the institution. Josh Delany campaigned in 2010 and after an intense competition, Delaney, along with his running mates, Stephen Thompson and Maddy Adler won the majority of student vote and therefore, the election.

Delany, who is black, doesn’t believe that his race affected his run either positively or negatively. “I don’t think that there was any major reaction to my running as a black candidate or to my subsequent election,” Delaney says.

Shreya Desai, a member of the campaign team for Delaney’s party in 2010, as well as a minority on campus also saw no difference in student opinions stemming from wholly race related reasons. “I didn’t see any extreme opinions either way about Delaney’s race. Of course, it was a heated race, but the tensions rose from healthy competition and wanting to provide the campus with an SGA that could best serve their needs as a student body.”

On a campus that is less than 15 percent multi-racial, there were undoubtedly reservations in electing a black student as the voice of the white-dominated campus, however; Delany believes that “it’s definitely a sign of the times. Being in office as we mark the 50^th anniversary of desegregation is amazing.”

Being black and in power is slowly becoming a usual occurrence. In 2008, Barack Obama became the U.S. President and Delany believes that this is “truly a tangible reminder of how far we’ve come.”

Of course, despite his optimism, Delany has no disillusions about the state of the campus body when it comes to race relations, “I will say that 50 years later, desegregation has happened, but the campus as a whole is not 100 percent integrated.”

With that reality in mind, one of the biggest platform pieces for Delaney’s campaign team, The Snapshot, was “bringing people together,” according to Delany. “Our goal was to express the opinions of many and to ‘bring everyone into the picture’ with our platform.” Delany considers his term a success.

“We were able to accomplish a lot and I was able to work with some of the most talented individuals on campus,” he states. “Everything we came into office wanting to accomplish was worked on and the diversity within the senate has risen.”

In addition to being student body president, Delaney is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, a traditionally black fraternity. “It’s really given me a deeper historical context of African Americans on campus.”

When it comes to his actions a president, Delaney believes that his race isn’t a factor, just as it’s become a  non-issue as a minority on an extremely under populated minority campus. “During my first year on campus, I was extremely aware of my race and I allowed it to stifle my interactions on campus, but now that feeling is non-existent. I’ve made great friends on campus and we’ve helped each other learn.”

Desai, however, has a different opinion. “Josh is black. Race undoubtedly affects the way that the world works and it is no different with his presidency. His character as a person affected his presidency and that character was built from his experiences as a minority,” she explains