COMMEMORATING 60 YEARS OF CRWLC: 1961- 2021
dergraduate leadership conference since Bloomington in 1961. The meetings are now typically held regionally, with some conducting several such conferences in each province to make the conferences more accessible. They are far more likely now to include a wider realm of issues such as professional development or the responsibility of the Black male. Nonetheless, the Conference continues to motivate and enlighten. And it richly fulfils the mission of allowing Kappa men to confer with their colleagues in leadership and to explore another dimension of their Bond. And that, the most salient feature of the C. Rodger Wilson Undergraduate Leadership Conference, has gone unaltered in the 25 years that have passed since that first meeting in Bloomington.” According to the Diamond Jubilee Report (1986) from The Journal , Vol LXXII, 4, “it was one of the most signifi- cant undertakings in all of Kappa Alpha Psi; a national program held at univer- sities in all 12 provinces that brings together thousands of undergraduate brothers…the vibrant and productive gatherings that make up what is now known as the C. Rodger Wilson Under- graduate Leadership Conference has taken stumbles aplenty since its infancy a quarter century ago. In fact, the Con- ference even lulled into dormancy for a considerable number of years before its revitalization in the late 1970s. All the same, it emerged and is today one of the most visible signs of the Fraternity’s commitment to developing undergradu- ate leaders.” By 1978, Brother James “Biff” Carter had assembled a committee to draft guidelines for a model Undergraduate Leadership Conference and traveled throughout the country to monitor its progress. The committee determined that the costs associated with an annual trip to Indiana would make attending the conference prohibitive for most undergraduates. Consequently, they adopted the idea of having the meetings on a province-by-province basis. “We notified each province polemarch and
Ebony/Jet Magazine features the service of the Omicron Chapter.. Omicron Queen circa 1957. Omicron Scrollers circa 1957. Used by permission from author.
C. Rodger Wilson Leadership Conference Silver Anniversary 1961 - 1986.
Lincoln University, Jefferson City. Mis- souri (10) E. Gregory Moore, Director of the Chicago Institute of Juvenile Research, Resident Training, National Guide Right Director, Chicago, Illinois (11) Henry E. Simmons, Head of the Central State College News Bureau, Wilberforce, Ohio and (12) Albert C. Spurlock, Industrial Art Teacher and track coach, Indianapolis. Indiana. The Undergraduate Leadership Con- ference was renamed C. Rodger Wilson Undergraduate Leadership Conference in 1979 for the brother who was most responsible for its birth following his passing, namely C. Rodger Wilson. Under the 24 th Administration of Kappa Alpha Psi led by Grand Polemarch Robert L. Gordon, the revived C. Rod- ger Wilson Undergraduate Leadership Conference was well on its way. In the last issue of the Diamond Ju- bilee year, The Journal looked at another major anniversary in the Fraternity. 1986 marked the 25 th anniversary of the first Undergraduate Leadership Conference. In retrospect, C. Rodger Wilson Lead- ership Conference began in 1961 as a modest conference held in classrooms at Indiana University sixty years ago. The
C. Rodger Wilson Leadership Confer- ence celebrated its Silver Anniversary under the 25 th Administration of Kappa Alpha Psi led by Grand Polemarch and 49 th Laurel Wreath Laureate Randall C. Bacon. According to then- Journal Editor Jon- athan P. Hicks, “In coming from far and wide to attend the Fraternity’s first un- dergraduate leadership conference, they listened to lectures and discussed the varied challenges of being leaders. They talked about the Fraternity, its traditions and its policies…They shared ideas about how they could best manage their chapters and, at the same time, make some contribution to their communities at a time in their lives when they were beginning to assume responsibility for themselves. Those undergraduate broth- ers gained a fair measure of confidence and insight from that first Conference. More than anything, they learned that the challenges they faced in being not only leaders of their chapters, but of their campuses and communities, were challenges they at least shared with each other. There was comfort in knowing that the battles of Upsilon, for example, were also the tasks confronting Alpha Iota. Much has changed about the un-
18 | FALL 2021 ♦ THE JOURNAL
PUBLISHING ACHIEVEMENT FOR MORE THAN 110 YEARS
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