By Angelica Fraine ’23, staff writer
Year after year, LVC welcomes new faces and bids farewell to old friends, but there’s nothing like returning to the place one once called home.
Khalil Brim ‘21 is a well-known name around the Valley, recognized widely for his accolades as a published author, mentor and positive energy among the student body. After graduating with a degree in English and creative writing, Brim has returned to LVC for a fellowship opportunity.
“I had to get my feet back underneath me because I’ve been gone for a year and a half, almost two years,” Brim said. “But I’m glad to be back and connecting with the students.”
Brim is working in the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) as a post-graduate fellow, where he acts as a bridge to the gap between the student body and the DEIB staff.
The first discussions of the position came about when Brim returned to campus in the summer for the third annual oration of Fredrick Douglass’s speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Brim had been asked to participate in the recitation as one of the orators, and was approached by Dr. Felicia Brown-Haywood, vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusive excellence, about the possibility of returning to LVC for a DEIB fellowship.
“It kind of seems like there’s a little bit of division and things like that from the community of students,” Brim said. “They brought me here with the hopes that I could possibly kind of weave it back together.”
As a part of his responsibilities, Brim is invested in programming, planning and research in regard to how to help students of color and other minoritized groups find spaces of belonging on campus and educate the student body on how to help one another heal and grow as a whole.
“I’ve been screaming ‘students for students’ since I was a freshman,” Brim said. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what your badge says, what your name tag says, what your title says. What matters is that you show up for the students.”
Since he’s been back, Brim has begun to reimplement campus events such as monthly community check-ins, which is an opportunity for anyone who is a student of color or member of the LGBTQIA+ community to hold a conversation with the members of the DEIB office and other diversity clubs across campus about different projects and initiatives they are working on.
“We had our first successful one [recently],” Brim said. “Just the life, the vibes, the energy and that excitement of maybe something is turning in our favor of family, inclusivity—it was an amazing day for me.”
Brim says the most enjoyable aspect of his fellowship thus far has been connecting with the students.
“I want to turn LVC back to how I remember when the affinity clubs had like 30, 40, 50 people showing up to meetings and events,” Brim said. “I want it to be a situation where students of color feel included—where every single person on LVC’s campus can look at their four years, or their six years or their five years here and say that this is a place [they] would like to return to.”
Brim is excited for future opportunities to continue exploring pathways to assist the student body in furthering their LVC experience in whatever way he can.