UNDERGRADUATE SPOTLIGHT
From Charlotte to Capitol Hill How student-leader Tyson Bates turned representation into action and brought an HBCU voice to the halls of Congress
Government Association for the 2024-2025 academic year, running on a platform that emphasized respect for students’ time, clear com- munication, and responsive leadership. Classmates and uni- versity communications often describe him as a political science scholar, which is as much about how he approaches issues as it is about grades. He has been active in the Political Science Student Associ- ation, where he connects classroom theory with the lived realities of his peers, many of whom are first-gen- eration college students balancing work, family responsibilities, and school. Bates is also deeply rooted in campus culture and tradition. He has been selected as Mister Senior, a role that combines the roles of ambassador, morale builder, and storyteller for the senior class. During JCSU’s historic Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association football championship run in 2025, university coverage high- lighted Bates in that role,
By Quentin Mitchell
O n a crisp November afternoon in 2024, as thousands of people filled Charlotte’s PNC Music Pavilion to hear Vice President Kamala Harris speak, a young voice stepped to the microphone first. The program listed him simply as “college student, introducer.” Yet for Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU), for Historically Black Colleges and Univer- sities (HBCUs) across the country, and for a growing circle of online supporters, the moment carried a much larger meaning. The student was Tyson Bates, a political science major, student-athlete, and student government leader at JCSU. In a firm, mea- sured cadence that belied his age, Bates welcomed the crowd, spoke about the stakes of the election, and then introduced the vice president of the United States. For many in the audience, it was their first time hearing his name. For his campus community, it was confirmation of what
Brother Tyson Bates in the US Capital Rotunda during his Congressional summer internship.
they already believed: that Bates is one of the emerging voices of a new generation of HBCU leadership. That moment on stage in Charlotte would prove to be a turning point, not an endpoint. Months later, Bates would trade the bright lights of a campaign rally for the marble corridors of Capitol Hill, serving as a con- gressional intern in the U.S. House of Representatives and carrying his HBCU story
directly into the nation’s policy-making arena. Bates is a rising senior and political science scholar from Charlotte, NC, study- ing at Johnson C. Smith University, the historically Black institution founded in 1867 on the city’s west side. On campus, he is rarely described with a single title. He is a student-athlete, resident assistant, campus ambassador, and a highly visible leader. He was elected vice president of the Student
14 THE JOURNAL ♦ WINTER 2025-2026
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