JCSU President Addresses Opening of School Conference
Johnson C. Smith University faculty and staff filed into Jane M. Smith Memorial Church Wednesday morning, where Dr. Valerie Kinloch ’96, 15th president of JCSU, addressed the group for the first time during the Opening of School Conference.
The bi-annual conference, held a few days before the start of each semester, gives campus leadership the opportunity to share JCSU updates. This year, Kinloch set an energetic tone for the semester to come.
She started her presentation with a reading of June Jordan’s powerful “Poem for South African Women,” which commemorates the 40,000 women and children who protested apartheid in South Africa.
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” Kinloch proclaimed, finishing out the last line of the piece. “Education is freedom, and freedom is opportunity. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We have to stand bold and talk about the ways in which we can impact Johnson C. Smith University and our community.”