Originally a music performance major focused on orchestral and chamber work, Steinhardt senior James Neely entered NYU as the only black student in both his major and all of his classes.
Coming from a mostly black community just outside of Washington, D.C., Neely felt so isolated at NYU, where only 3.8 percent of the student population is black, that he even considered transferring.
After his sophomore year, Neely ultimately decided to work toward giving other students the experience he wished he had as a freshman. He co-founded the Black Student Union, which brings together black students at NYU to communicate and build solidarity with one another.
"It's part of our job to make it easier for students who come after us, so it's not as hard for them to find community," Neely said. "And that's not just about black students, that's about everyone."
As the president of BSU, Neely has helped organize multiple on-campus events, including Inspired, which was held to encourage prospective NYU students of color to attend the university.
But Neely's initiatives to build a community of black students go beyond the walls of NYU. This fall, he also organized Keepin' It 100, which brought together over 200 black undergraduates, including students from Columbia University, Cooper Union and Brooklyn College, to discuss black student life. At the event, students were presented with the first-ever Black Students' Guide to NYU, which Neely co-wrote with other members of the BSU.
"I consider myself a unifier of people," Neely said.
Last spring, Marc Wais, NYU Vice President for Student Affairs, gave Neely the green light to organize the first-ever Black Graduation, which was held last May. Attendees of the graduation ceremony were presented with Kente cloth stoles to wear around their necks at the all-university commencement.
According to Neely, leadership is anything but self-reliant. It is all about encouraging others to harness their own abilities.
"I take great pride in investing in the development of my peers," Neely said. "As a leader, I'm not somebody who tries to go out and do everything."
"I see myself more as like Phil Jackson than as like Michael Jordan," Neely added. "I look at my e-board as the '96 Bulls, and I map out who is the Dennis Rodman, who is the Michael Jordan."
Neely's influence as a leader is directly tied to his interests in marketing and music. The Steinhardt senior is majoring in music technology, plays the saxophone and was the drum major of his high school marching band.
"I like connecting people in a room," Neely said. "As a musician, I like the feeling that everybody in this room right now, not only are they locked into me, but they're locked into each other."
Upon graduation, Neely hopes to find a job in digital marketing with a major media outlet.
"Live music — there's no feeling like that," Neely said. "So anyway I can try and duplicate experiences like that, be they student club events or marketing professionally, that's what I want to do."
