Washington and Lee elects its first African-American female Executive Committee president

In the Global Service House around midnight on March 20, Elizabeth Mugo, ’19, was in the center of the a room of students jumping excitedly and blasting hip-hop artist Drake’s recent hit “God’s Plan.” The student body at Washington and Lee had just found out its new president for the 2018-19 academic year: Mugo.

She will be the first African-American woman to serve as Executive Committee president and only the fifth female president.

Mugo, a sociology major with a poverty and africana studies minor, said she experienced a wide range of emotions when she learned the results.

“I think for me, the most exciting part was the aftermath and how many people were like ‘I think you are going to do a really good job’ and knowing people believe and trust in me,” Mugo said.  “Knowing the majority of the student body really trust me to do well is a huge pressure, but I think it is a big motivating factor too.”

Current Student Association for Black Unity (SABU) vice president Alexus McGriff, ’18, said she was overjoyed when she heard the news of Mugo’s election.

“We’ve seen white men and white people in general,” she said. “Finally, there is some different leadership on this campus. …While I won’t be here to enjoy the benefits of it, I can say I was here for it and I am extremely proud.”

The EC is a group of 13 elected representatives from the undergraduate and law school who uphold the W&L honor system. They hold trials that decide the guilt or innocence of students in terms of honor violations and are responsible for the recognition and resource allocation of student organizations.

She notes her journey to becoming the leader of the student body is quite ironic given she considered transferring schools during the first few days of her freshman year.

“I remember during O-week in Lenfest going outside to call my mom,” she said. “People here seem really different and come from much different backgrounds than me. I wasn’t sure if this was a space where I felt comfortable.”

However, due to financial circumstances, Mugo had to stay.

Mugo said her first couple months on campus were tough. Mugo currently lives in Columbia, SC but was born in Ruiru, Kenya and moved to the U.S when she was four.

In addition to adjusting to the complicated history surrounding this area of Virginia, she said meeting students of different socioeconomic status was a strange experience.

“Having conversations with people who said ‘my family has two homes’ or ‘my family vacations in these places internationally,’ it was very strange conversations for me given that my parents had just recently bought a home when I came to college,” she said.

Mugo said a turning point in her time at W&L came around November of her first year. The University of Missouri was having protests in wake of racism exhibited on the campus. Mugo thought that W&L faced similar issues, but they were not being talked about. So she, along with MaKayla Lorick, ’18, helped put together a rally on the Colonnade to discuss different issues on campus, particularly racial ones.

Mugo continued to get more involved on campus as she joined SABU. She became co-vice president with Truth Iyiewuare, ’18, the fall semester of her sophomore year and continued to become co-president with Iyiewuare the following winter semester.

As Mugo continued to become more of a leader on campus, she said she began to think about running for EC vice president because of conversations in her race and ethnic relations class pertaining to how few women and minority students ran for student government positions.

The conversation had real-life significance when Mugo looked at members of her current EC.

“I remember that year (2016-17) in particular the EC didn’t have any representatives that identified with any multicultural groups on campus,” she said. “I remember being frustrated by it.”

After thinking about it, Mugo came to a firm conclusion.

“I said to myself I either need to do something or stop complaining,” she said.

Mugo said initially she was going to run for class representative but was persuaded to run for vice president by former Greek and residential life coordinator Chris Moore because of the ability to still run for class representative even if she was not elected vice president.

After winning the vice presidency, she said her first couple of weeks on the EC came with a steep learning curve. Due to having no prior EC experience, she not only had to learn the duties of vice president, but also the inner workings of the EC as well. However, she quickly picked up on things and said overall it was a great experience.

After serving as the vice president for a year, she said she was ready to transition and run for president for the 2018-2019 year.

She said she was inspired to run for president because she wanted to start a conversation about issues on campus with the people who can truly impact the school.

“I know this year I’ve heard a lot of people who have felt like haven’t necessarily been heard. Or specific groups who felt like they haven’t been heard,” she said. “Because the president is the person who speaks to the board about issues on campus I think I saw it as a specific moment to speak to other issues on campus.”

Current EC president Mason Grist, ‘18, said Mugo has been a pleasure to work with as vice president and is more than capable of handling the job of president.

Tammy Futrell, the associate dean of students and dean of seniors, said Mugo’s victory was based upon her intelligence and work ethic, rather than tokenism.

“I think she was elected because she was qualified, not just because she is a woman or woman of color,” she said.

Futrell also said Mugo’s victory is not just a victory for Mugo herself, but other groups on campus as well.

“I think Mugo winning is symbolic for people of color and women,” she said. “Many of the barriers and obstacles we initially thought existed at this institution are no longer there or at least starting to be broken down now.”

In addition, Grist said her victory cannot be understated because of its effect on future W&L students.

“The entire freshman class is going to get that speech from her and hopefully that will change the perception of what it means to be a typical W&L student,” he said.

As Mugo prepares to step into the limelight as president of the student body, she said she understand the significance of her tenure as president.

“Being the first black woman president, I think I’m most nervous and excited about writing history with this presidency and setting the bar in a lot of ways,” she said.

As president, Mugo said she wants to continue to reform the Recognition and Budget Policy for student organizations. She wants to continue to efficiently allocate funds and promote clear communication between clubs and the EC.

In addition, she said she want to advocate for more collaboration between student organizations on campus, particularly greek and non-greek.

Mugo and the rest of the newly elected EC will officially begin their tenure during spring term.