A few things were taking place behind the scenes in an effort to bring more “Divine Nine” fraternities and sororities – Greek organizations that came to fruition at Historically Black Colleges and Universities – to campus.

At that point, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated was the only Divine Nine organization that had been established on the Hill. In the spring of 1967, a group of students came together to form the “Kappa Q Club” that represented the interests of Divine Nine organizations Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi.

The students were told they had to have a probationary club for one year before they could charter a fraternity on campus.

In order to do that, they needed a sponsor; enter Taylor, a white professor on a predominantly white teaching staff.

“In the late 1960s, the band was still playing ‘Dixie’ at ballgames and there were still a lot of Confederate flags around. It was a different world,” Taylor said.

Howard Bailey was a member of the Kappa Q Club. When the students got to the part of the fraternity application that required a faculty advisor, Taylor immediately came to mind.

“I said, ‘Well, there’s Dr. Taylor in sociology’, and we already noticed that the faculty in the sociology department were much more receptive and conscious of race, which you would expect,” Bailey said. “So we decided, ‘let’s see, Dr. Taylor – I’ll ask him.”

Bailey had previously been a student of both Taylor and his wife, Pat, and had already built somewhat of a relationship with them through pure coincidence.

After Bailey brought the idea to Taylor’s attention, he asked Pat what she thought. Pat, a faculty member in WKU’s English department, was very supportive of the notion.

“She could have said ‘no’ for a lot of reasons, but she said it’s the right thing to do,” Taylor said.

With Pat’s endorsement, Taylor signed off as the sponsor of the club, paving the way for the two fraternities to join campus in 1969. Bailey was on the First line of Kappa Alpha Psi, also known as the “Nasty 19”, and Taylor served as an advisor for the chapter for a while.

“If Craig Taylor hadn’t said ‘yes’, I don’t know where history would have taken us,” Bailey said. “After we got chartered, we went to Murray State and helped them get a chapter; we went to Morehead, we went to five or six schools […] if Craig Taylor hadn’t made that decision, all of that may not have happened.”

Taylor grew close with many members of the fraternity and would even have thoughts of joining the organization himself, but had to sideline the idea due to other circumstances in his life.

Bailey said there were multiple times Taylor told him he thought he would join, but the birth of a child, the strenuous tenure process and Pat’s passing prevented him from achieving the dream.

“He had those kinds of setbacks going on, but was always interested in becoming a member of Kappa Alpha Psi,” Bailey said.

Finally, in the spring of 2022 at the age of 81, Taylor officially pledged Kappa Alpha Psi and became a member just 53 years after the chapter was founded.

“I’ve told Howard [Bailey] and everybody else that’ll listen, that of all the things that I’ve accomplished in my fifty-some years here, this is what I’m most proud of,” Taylor said. “[…] I’m glad that Howard asked me and I was glad I was able to help. I’ve really enjoyed watching the organization, watching it grow.”

News reporter La’Quan Richardson can be reached at laquan.richardson86@gmail.com.

Gallery • 5 Photos

Allie Hendricks

Keynote speaker Jessica Nichols addresses the crowd at the 'I AM H.E.R' Women of Worth brunch on Saturday, March 26. “I think it's so important that we celebrate ourselves, as a woman I think that I've missed seeing people just count their victories and count their wins and cheer for themselves," Nichols said.

The Intercultural Student Engagement Center hosted the ‘I AM H.E.R’ Woman of Worth Brunch on Saturday, a ceremony that was created to celebrate women who are doing good things in the WKU community.

The brunch included a speech from keynote speaker Jessica Nichols and an award ceremony for a few notable women on campus among students and staff.

Nichols, the daughter of ISEC benefactors Cynthia and George Nichols III, was a student at WKU just nine years ago, walking the same hills as the women on campus are today. She is now an alumna and a creative director for Vogue Magazine.

“I think it’s so important that we celebrate ourselves, as a woman I think that I’ve missed seeing people just count their victories and count their wins and cheer for themselves,” Nichols said. “Sometimes I forget to see all of the amazing things that I’ve done, and I think to have a month that’s just solely dedicated to reminding us of our greatness is so important.”

Nichol’s speech focused on the message of H.E.R, an acronym for heroic, empowering, and revolutionary, the theme of the brunch.

“You have to empower yourself to speak your mind, and I think when you own your ideas and your thoughts it then allows other people to have that freedom to say what’s on their mind too,” Nichols said. “It’s kind of contagious, but I think when you are not scared of being different and speaking up, that’s when you can really be empowered and in turn empower other people.”

An ISEC intern created the event in 2020 and Dr. Cres’Sena Thomas, associate director of the Intercultural Student Engagement Center, chose to keep it going. The brunch is a way to celebrate women on campus and highlight those who uplift others.

“It’s good for people who are currently at WKU to hear someone else’s testimony, especially an alum, because you never know how they may connect or how someone else’s experiences resonate with others,” Thomas said. “[It might] be that push for that young lady who might have been considering not coming back to WKU in the fall, that they too can make it.”

The fact that Black WKU students have role models, events and a system in place to offer support resonated with the attendees.

“Having a Black speaker, Black events for women, it’s very empowering knowing there is a support system and [we] have people we can look up to,” Aysha Stovall, one of the committee members for the brunch, said.

”After hearing Jessica Nichols’s speech, I walked away with her saying ‘when I look in the mirror, let her be my mirror’; I’m at that point in my life where I’m still trying to find my voice and be able to show off my radiance while also being ladylike and a woman,” Stovall continued. “It was so inspiring to see someone who’s been in my position speaking to all these college students, because one day, I could potentially be her.”

Nichols hopes the Black Women of Worth events continue to build and become a regular thing on campus where women can come together to celebrate each other.

News Reporter La’Quan Richardson can be reached at laquan.richardson86@gmail.com.

“The purpose of today’s event was to take the audience through a timeline-style event and showcase the perseverance and excellence of each part of Black American history,” Avery Wells, member of Phi Beta Sigma, said. The event progressed through the timeline with the help of poets, singers, dancers, writers and speakers, many of them WKU students. 

“The message we wanted people to leave with is the notion that black people are stronger than we can even understand,” Tani Washington, student coordinator for the African American studies department and member of the forensics team, said. “Especially black women, who generally don’t get the credit they deserve – they are strong individuals who deserve the same love, affection and applause everyone else does.”

The timeline started with Pan-African history, emphasizing the point that black history didn’t start with chains in America, and then took the audience through the civil rights movement, the time of segregation, the emergence of historically black colleges and universities and all the way up to the movement for black lives of the present day.

”It’s important to bring these types of events to predominantly white campuses because we can see from their perspective, but it’s hard for them to see from ours – we live in their world, and they have to look into our world to try to get any type of conceptualization of what it is we go through,” Wells said. “So, it’s important for us to continue to showcase these types of things to make a better future and to have a more understanding population of people who are graduating and going out into the real world and being our doctors, lawyers, judges and members of the criminal justice system – becoming police officers, and those sorts of things.” 

The Event spotlighted the Divine 9 on campus, offered HBCU-style performances by Kaois Dance Team LLC, and a rendition of the Negro National Anthem by the Amazing Tones of Joy.

 “The black experience is something that’s had by any person who is black – if you’re black, your life is the Black Experience,” Washington said.

News Reporter Laquan Richardson can be reached at laquan.richardson86@gmail.com.