Politics doesn’t have to be polarizing, says SMU Student Body President Darian Taylor. “The pendulum will move back toward a climate of cooperation, and my generation is the one that will swing it that way,” he told Dallas Morning News columnist Sharon Grigsby.
In a profile published on January 24, Taylor told Grigsby he was hopeful, but not naive, about the state of affairs in Dallas and Washington, D.C. The following is an excerpt from the story:
[Darian] Taylor hasn’t just gotten an education at SMU; he’s broken down walls within the school and between its students and local communities “that don’t have the privilege we have.”
As SMU student president, he’s also often the only African American present in boardrooms with donors and administrators. “I realized how important it is to have my opinion at that table, and how long have we gone without a person of color at this table?” he said.
K.C. Mmeje, vice president for student affairs, says he knew the first time he met Taylor that he would leave an indelible mark on SMU. He ticked off a list of Taylor’s assets — strong sense of character, work ethic, maturity and passion for serving others — then summed it up thusly: “I want to be like him when I grow up.”
Raised in the Houston area, Taylor will graduate in May with a double major in public policy and communications. Regardless of what job he lands next, he intends to make time to replicate his work at SMU by doing community-organizing.
“I don’t just want to live and work in a city. I want to build coalitions of different-minded people who are my age,” he said.