Alonzo Jones

The Past, The Present, & The Future of Black College Students

Since the turn of the 20th century, Black or African American youth have been attending colleges to create new opportunities for themselves, their families, and the community. While still under-represented in college-going rates and completion, those who have and are attending have had a tremendous impact on racial justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity. Whether at Historically Black Colleges and Universities or Predominantly White Institutions, across the decades, Black students have organized to bring voice and change to segregation, civil rights, voting rights, first-generation programs, police violence, political representation, and most recently, corporate and higher education policy. This presentation outlines the distinct time periods shaping the Black journey within America from arrival to Black Lives Matter, the role students served in mobilization, and their historical, present, and future impact.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will:

• Connect themselves to the work of the ancestors and elders in creating positive change in the country and for the culture.
• Learn how the unique age-set of 18-22 compels young people towards seeking societal change through notions of fairness and justice through action and risk.
• Discover multiple pathways and strategies to address societal issues that include cultural solidarity work, coalition building, and earnest engagement of those perceived to be in opposition to particular causes.
• Affirm the importance of involvement in campus clubs and organizations to join with peers to raise awareness on various issues and develop the leadership skills necessary to address them

College Identity Matrix

College is a time of newfound freedoms, transition to adulthood, and intellectual discovery.

This interactive presentation explores the many important identities that exist within college students and invites the audience to prioritize each identity in relation to their personal and educational goals. AJ will challenge students to reflect on who they are is more of a condition of where they are and who they are around. Students walk away with a better understanding of themself and how their identities can factor into their academic and personal success.

This program is ideal for a student leadership conference, first-generation students, and/or orientation programming.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will:

• Realize that we all have many important and age appropriate identities.
• Understand how context or situation determines which identity should be dominant in a given moment.
• That despite identity shifts, core values and character remain constant.
• Balance between these varying identitities will result in academic and personal success.

Living Up to Our Founders’ Expectations Around Culture and Community

The Greek experience is a dynamic opportunity for leadership development, genuine brotherhood and sisterhood, and an opportunity to continue the legacy of prior generations on behalf of cultural uplift. Historically, Black fraternities and sororities have been around since the turn of the 20th Century. More recently Latino/a, Asian, Native and multicultural communities have also formed Greek organizations. A campus with a robust and diverse Greek community is demonstrating inclusion and cultural development in its practices. This presentation challenges members to anchor themselves within their founding principles, to avoid the hazing history of Greek organizations, and to apply their learning through their membership process to benefit the campus community and the priorities of their national organization.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will:

• Understand and ensure how three generations of fraternity and sorority members must be present in the initiation process to minimize incidents of hazing
• Distinguish in each audience members’ mind that they did go through a rite of passage and have been trained to lead and organize on behalf of their respective agendas.
• Be empowered each audience member to understand the importance of their organization on addressing cultural issues on campus and in their communitites.

The Underground: Hazing Culture Behind Closed Doors

I was hazed. I hazed. I was suspended. The pledging process was banned.  We went underground. Hazing continued, as it still does today.

What goes down in the underground? A century-plus of service, activism, leadership, cultural development, and philanthropy become vulnerable to what goes down in the underground. The personal development of its members and their impact upon college, local, state, national, and global growth is too significant and too rich not to continuously examine what goes on in the underground. The underground is where fraternity, and unfortunately sometimes its members, go to die.

In the program, Alonzo Jones shares the history of hazing and the impact it has on communities. He examines and exposes the underground culture of fraternities and challenges students to create a fraternal legacy worth being proud of.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will:

• Understand the meaning and consequences of hazing.
• Understand the impact BGLOs had and continue to have on cultural uplift.
• Explore anti-hazing strategies that still yield high enthusiasm, strong brother/sisterhood bonds, and committed members working on behalf of the chapter and national priorities.

Unpacking the Impact of Male Hypersexuality

College is a time of personal discovery in many ways, including sex. While many abstain many do not. Navigating the landscape of 18-22-year-olds gathered in the same spaces, with social media and instant access to porn, coupled with “raging” hormones need to be talked about.

Unpacking the impact of male hypersexuality is a workshop style program designed to help collegiate males (students and student-athletes) recognize and understand how current sexual choices are correlated with adult male loneliness, stress, and marital satisfaction.

The aim of the presentation is to support institutional and team goals around consent, respect, image, and healthy decision making resulting in men of character who will become solid future husbands and fathers.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will:

• Examine the generational shifts in how in-person engagement verses social media interaction accelerates the sexual time-line.
• Learn how pornography objectifies and skews their perception of women broadly.
• Understand how laying with multiple partners over the same period of time impacts their emotional and sexual development.
• Begin a process of self-examination and steps that leads them towards greater intentionality in developing emotional intimacy necessary for sustained happy and healthy future relationships.

Race, Rationalization, and Humanness: A Look Into the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King

The greatest injustice we do to our historical leaders is to place them into the realm of the untouchable. Too often, we deify the personality and miss the opportunity to accept their humanness as an example of how to think about and engage a highly diverse society and world.

The program chronicles Dr. King’s life while in college, his journey to Montgomery, the passing of the Civil Rights Act, and the five-year period after the ‘I Have a Dream Speech’ concluding with his assassination, April 4, 1968. The program explores themes and messages still relevant to today’s college students and future leaders.

The aim of this presentation is to support university goals around inclusion, affinity, civility, and critical thinking among a diverse demographic student body and is a perfect fit for any community program for Black History Month.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will:

• Understand why Dr. King was not successful in post-civil rights activism attempting to address poverty and housing segregation in the North.
• Begin a process of self-examination and learn steps that lead towards greater intentionality in understanding individual and cultural identities, including their own and that of fellow students.