‘We all connect here’

The music is by Coltrane, the mac and cheese is from Peppercorn’s, and the setting — comfortable seats arranged in a circle inside Dana Commons’ Fireside Lounge — is primed for conversation.

As members of the Men of Color Alliance filter into the room for their biweekly meeting, William Stafford ’26 quips that tonight’s gathering is sure to have a strong turnout, noting that a free meal is a never-fail incentive.

But once Stafford takes the podium and launches a discussion, it becomes quickly apparent that the fellowship, more than the food, has brought everyone here. Under the affable sophomore’s easygoing but finely organized leadership, MOCA has become an essential space for Clark men of color to share experiences, hash out challenges, celebrate achievements, and, as one member puts it, just “be up.”

Stafford, a Fort Lauderdale native, came to Clark “to push my own boundaries.” He’d been accepted to Morehouse College, an all-male historically Black college in Atlanta whose alumni include Martin Luther King Jr. and filmmaker Spike Lee. But he was attracted by the prospect of attending school in New England (including in the winter), away from the comfortable familiarity of family and friends. He also found himself inspired by the stories he read on ClarkNOW, the University’s digital news publication, about Clark students taking distinctive paths, which included launching new clubs and reimagining the goals and structures of existing student-run organizations.

“It was an honor to be accepted at Morehouse, but I saw opportunities at Clark that really appealed to me. I knew I could be involved in so much as a student right away,” he says.

Involvement quickly turned into immersion. Stafford served as the first-year representative to the Undergraduate Student Council and now works as a program assistant for the Office of Identity, Student Engagement, and Access (ISEA) and at the Information Desk in the Higgins University Center. He’s also a resident advisor in Wright Hall. Last year, he co-hosted the Panel of the Decades, which brought together alumni of color with Clark students to share strategies for navigating their personal and professional lives.

“I felt that we’d lost touch a little — with the university and with each other as a community. There had to be a reason for us being there that was more than just being there.”

—William Stafford

The political science major, who is eyeing a career in the law, also became involved with the longstanding student group FOCUS, overseen through ISEA by Josiah Cook, then assistant director of programming and belonging, and Christobal Velez ’23, MSC ’24, as a dedicated affinity space for men of color. The three friends saw an opportunity to increase engagement, and started by fashioning a mission statement and rebranding the group as the Men of Color Alliance.

“I can remember FOCUS meetings where there would be five of us in a room,” he recalls. “I felt in those moments that we’d lost touch a little — with the university and with each other as a community. There had to be a reason for us being there that was more than just being there.”

Stafford has worked diligently to create “a space of spirit; a space of camaraderie” that has been steadily growing in both numbers and enthusiasm. Tonight’s meeting is proof of it.

“We talk about not just what it means to be a man, but what it means to be a man of color.”

Debrin Adon Suero ’25 is describing the core of MOCA’s purpose, surrounded by about 18 fellow students in the Fireside Lounge. “How do you feel about being a man of color at heart?” he asks. “That’s something you can’t really share with people who don’t have your similar experience, at least not as thoroughly.

“We all connect here,” he continues. “Even when we have differences, we shine a light on them and discuss how we came to have those differences.”

Isaac Tomeho ’26 relates a recent conversation the men had about overcompensating “as a way to be seen at the same level as everyone else who might not necessarily look like us or talk like us. We sometimes feel like we need to do more than the average person.”

“We talk about not just what it means to be a man, but what it means to be a man of color.”

—Debrin Adon Suero

These meetings, he insists, are essential, the voices in the room incredibly important for working through this and similar issues. And consistency and commitment are key to keeping MOCA vital for all.

“The most important thing about a space like this is that we keep coming back. Because it’s one thing to show up one day and just stop coming, and it’s another to really build a community.”

MOCA is not, technically, a club. It has no advisor. But it does have a mentor in Joseph Corazzini, vice president for government and community relations at Clark, who regularly attends meetings and is a resource for the men in the room. Tonight, he encourages the attendees to take advantage of Clark’s alumni network to investigate professional opportunities and begin planning their post-Clark futures.

“Part of what I feel is critical on our part in supporting men of color is helping them understand what resources are available to them and how to navigate those systems,” he says. “And with issues of exposure and access, I think they are able to connect with some of the experiences that I’ve gone through. I just want to be here and have some presence for them.”

Clark has not had fraternities for decades, but there is a fraternal feel among the MOCA members — an openness and ease around one another. Aedan Derrick ’26, an environmental science major and member of the Clark basketball team, uses the word when he describes this “fraternity of young men of color on campus doing something good, doing something productive, adding to the life on campus.”

“Regardless of what we talk about,” he says, “I like the fact that this space is here. It’s a big thing.”

Other voices fill the room.

“The most important thing about a space like this is that we keep coming back. Because it’s one thing to show up one day and just stop coming, and it’s another to really build a community.”

—Isaac Tomeho

Many laud Clark’s ACE Summer Institute and Connections@Clark for supplying foundational support to help first-generation students and students of color transition to college life and academics.

Debrin Adon Suero and his brother Erickson ’26 talk about arriving to Clark as graduates from University Park Campus School in the Main South neighborhood. Thanks to the University Park Partnership (UPP), the brothers had been able to access the University’s library, gym, and other campus facilities while still in high school, and then earned UPP scholarships to attend Clark.

Ronnie Cushnie ’24, a student in the 3-2 Program in Engineering, which pairs a Clark undergraduate degree with an engineering degree from Columbia University over five years, regards the presence of Black men on campus as “growing exponentially.” When he cites his ambition to finish out his college career at Columbia “if” he gains admission, Stafford gently chides him. “There’s no ‘if.’ You’re getting in.”

A recent movement called the Black Men Flower Project posits that men, particularly men of color, are typically not gifted flowers during their lifetimes and only receive bouquets at their funerals. Why not offer those flowers — whether they are literal blossoms, or even praise, support, and congratulations — when they truly can be appreciated?

As the night’s conversation concludes, Derrick seizes the opportunity.

Learn more about how students find a sense of belonging at Clark.

“I want to be sure Will gets his flowers,” he says, to nods from his fellow MOCA members. “It wouldn’t be so easy to show up if Will wasn’t right here — everybody in here knows that Will is doing the work. People show up because of Will. There are certain aspects to being a leader, and I know if anyone else were in the position, this place wouldn’t be as dazzling as it is.”

Of course, as it should be, the final word rests with William Stafford, who takes the occasion to make a personal pitch for the Men of Color Alliance.

“This group is for all men who identify as men of color. We’d love to have them, no matter what their life experience or their background,” he says. “We are all very different individually, but we all resonate with being men of color on campus and in our lives, every day.”

Top image, left to right: Atharv Thaker ’25, Quentin Pridgen ’27, and Aedan Derrick ’26
Photos: Steven King, director of photography / university photographer