Wednesday, April 15, 2015 // The Statement
12B
A
fter finishing a mock job
interview on the after-
noon of Nov. 24, History
graduate student Austin McCoy
received big news: it was the day
the world would know if Darren
Wilson would be indicted for kill-
ing Michael Brown. McCoy and
his interviewer, Associate Prof.
Matthew Countryman, along with
other faculty and graduate stu-
dents, quickly pulled together a stu-
dent viewing of the announcement.
Their hope was to give students
both a place to watch and a way to
understand the historical context
of Ferguson’s upheaval — a topic
McCoy had spoken about before.
“My first four years, I would con-
sider myself, you know, just a suc-
cessful grad student,” McCoy said,
reflecting on his motivation to get
involved as a student activist. “And
then Trayvon Martin happened.”
The decision not to indict Wil-
son brought familiar deflation for
McCoy, who felt himself profound-
ly changed when Martin’s killer,
George Zimmerman, was found not
guilty in 2013.
“Many of us are only one cop or
one vigilante away from becoming
a hashtag,” McCoy said. “It’s like,
OK, I don’t have any choice right
now but to get involved, because it’s
that serious.”
Serious is certainly one way to
describe McCoy’s work: a combina-
tion of grassroots organizing, racial
justice education, and potentially
groundbreaking research on Mid-
western cities in the seventies and
eighties.
But if the urgency of these top-
ics has hardened McCoy at all, you
wouldn’t get that from talking to
him. Dressed in a purple sweater,
shiny blue tie, and pristine white
Nikes, McCoy often wears the kind
of bright color that his consistent
smile and loud laugh bring to a
conversation. McCoy has the con-
fidence of a man six years into his
Ph.D., and the unabashed optimism
of an activist.
At
the
University,
McCoy’s
scholarship, organizing, and per-
W
hen asked, “tell me
about how you got
to Michigan,” most
students respond with canned
or rehearsed answers — “I grew
up in this place,” “I wanted to do
this thing with my life,” “I always
knew I wanted to be a wolverine.”
SMTD senior Khris Sanchez isn’t
most students.
He begins by explaining the
story of his parents: both immi-
grants from Peru, his dad took
buses, trains, and even walked the
distance from Peru to Oakland,
Calif. to first arrive in the United
States — holding on to the bottom
of a train for hundreds of miles as
he crossed the U.S. border. San-
chez is quick to bring up his par-
ent’s experiences, and it’s evident
that much of his own personal
philosophy has been shaped by
their sacrifices.
A vocal performance major
at the University, Sanchez’ path
wasn’t always so clear. While
he has held a love of music since
preschool, even attending a pres-
tigious program called the Young
Musician’s Program in the Bay
Area, Sanchez actually started
college at the University of Cali-
fornia, Irvine as an electrical
engineering major, before trans-
ferring to the University.
“I felt incomplete because I
wasn’t studying music. Electrical
engineering just made me sad. It
wasn’t my passion,” Sanchez said.
“The only reason I did it was to
satisfy my dad because he thought
I would have a more stable job.
But he saw how I was more pas-
sionate for music and he said ‘I
respect you son, you do that.’”
Halfway through his freshman
year, Sanchez had the opportuni-
ty to perform in front of one of the
renowned SMTD vocal profes-
sors. He was then offered a schol-
arship to the University’s vocal
program on the spot.
Once arriving at the Univer-
sity, Sanchez did not waste time
becoming involved. Along with
his extensive work in SMTD, he
“
To those whom much is given,
much is required,” reads the
back of LSA junior William
Royster’s T-shirt. The same shirt is
being passed out to 46 high school
freshman and sophomores in the
main room of the Trotter Mul-
ticultural Center. The interview
pauses as Will runs inside to give
closing remarks to the three-day
residential program he designed
for Kalamazoo students to under-
stand the opportunities available at
the University of Michigan.
“It was an idea in my head a year
ago. I can’t describe how many
hours we put in on this, raised
$20,000 and we gave these stu-
dents an opportunity,” Royster said
of the program.
William Royster, this year’s
presidential candidate for The
Team and a committee chair with
the Black Student Union, has many
ideas. This program, the Michigan
Institute for the Improvement of
African American Representation
program, was one of them.
The ability to turn idea into real-
ity is Royster’s method of success.
His answer is quick and prepared
when asked about this. He has
earned lots of it. As an independent
student — his mother died when
he was sixteen, and soon after his
father left — Royster’s journey
has been a steady uphill climb to
remarkable achievement. He has
no intentions of slowing down.
“You determine what you want
to do, you make progress towards
that thing, whatever it may be, and
you do it. You do it well,” he said.
“Today, seeing a lot of these kids
from the same hometown as me
with $50 stipends at the M-Den
and me being able to say ‘Get what-
ever you want’ — that’s success.”
Royster has spent a great deal
of time considering what it is he
wants, for himself and for others.
BRIAN BECKWITH/Daily
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
DELANEY RYAN/Daily