NC State’s Code Black club started as an idea in fall 2022 to provide a space for Black students in computer science. By November, the club solidified its membership with Tim MacNeil, lab coordinator and the staff sponsor for both Code Black and LA/CSC, helping to recruit members by sending a mass email to marginalized communities within the computer science major. 

Before coming to NC State, MacNeil had worked at a community college tutoring center with a large demographic of Black and Latinx students. Upon arriving at NC State, MacNeil said he noticed the absence of a similar space and was compelled to create one. 

“So I kind of spent a semester or so kind of realizing, ‘Well, how could we go about doing this?’” MacNeil said. “Eventually I got in touch with one of the people for admissions for the computer science department, and they told me that they could share student information to find the Black and Latino students. So we thought, ‘Hey, just, let’s just email every single one and see who is interested.’”

Alexandra Jones, a fourth-year studying computer science and president and founder of Code Black, said she helped create the organization to establish a space for the Black community to share a similar experience. 

“I really didn’t know anybody else who looked like me who was wanting to do computer science or an adjacent field,” Jones said. “It was kind of isolating. … I’m a very extroverted person. I definitely have a lot of friends, but it’s still isolating to not have anybody who has shared similar experiences to you.”

The Latino Association for Computer Science, or LA/CSC, serves as the Latino counterpart of Code Black. Joining officially in summer 2024, they share a similar mission — to create a supportive network for students.  

Code Black and LA/CSC hosts several outreach events throughout the school year like their annual hackathon, ePartner talks, career fairs and volunteering with STARS, an organization focused on teaching K-12 students interested in computer science. 

This year’s hackathon was titled Decode Black Connect where topics of culture, history and aspects of computer science joined together. Jones said the hackathon was a great opportunity to learn about different perspectives. 

“It might be the preservation of culture,” Jones said. “It might have something to do, like with history, something always related to that realm, that topic. I know from participants, I’ll talk to them throughout or during or after, and they always say, ‘Oh, this is a great opportunity to learn, especially if the participant is not Black.’”

Code Black and LA/CSC are supported by companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, LexisNexis, Labcorp, NetApp, Fidelity, SAS, Pendo, Deutsche Bank, Volvo, Google, Lowe’s and Microsoft. MacNeil said funding for the two clubs was encouraged. 

“There’s also situations that are unique for the computer science department when it comes to funding towards this thing called the ePartners Program, where essentially, companies give us money upfront,” MacNeil said. “So it’s something that ePartners, for a while, had been wanting to give money towards. So once the groups were formed, there was a lot of funding for them already.”

Besides creating a community, Code Black and LA/CSC share a common interest in mentoring their members in academics and career-based fields. Mordecai Mengesteab, a first-year studying computer science and vice president of Code Black, said helping their members establishes the first step to personal connections. 

“How do I talk to people?” Mengesteab said. “Who do I talk to? It’s a really hard first step to do, and I think that’s a big part of what our club does, getting us in touch with people in the triangle, our ePartners, directly, some of them just being personal connections — just using all of our own abilities to stand on each other’s shoulders.”

Along with several club events, Code Black and LA/CSC hold celebrations to celebrate their community within the field of computer science. Code Black hosted Code Black Connect in early February to kick off their Black History Month celebration, creating a space for networking.

LA/CSC also hosted their annual Latinx Heritage celebration in October. Victor Hermida, a fourth-year studying computer science and president of LA/CSC, said the event harbored mentorship and community within their club and with Code Black.  

“It’s like just making sure that we feel like a familia, being able to have each other’s backs and being there for one another,” Hermida said. “We also share the same experiences with Code Black, since they’re also underrepresented. … We do a lot of joint events where we both provide the same resources we want for each other’s clubs.” 

Hermida said the two clubs are aiming to gather resources that they are not seeing from the University, such as advocacy for their membership or community. 

“Our club is pretty much trying our best to bring the resources that we’re not seeing in the department, or maybe we feel like we need in the department, into our club,” Hermida said. “[It’s about] being able to do what we can to make them successful in their fields and also academically.” 

Jones said advocacy for their clubs would help greatly in their membership. She expressed hope for professors to advertise their clubs throughout the entire semester.

Amid recent diversity, equity and inclusion impacts affecting higher education, Jones said it can be discouraging at times to not have answers but remains hopeful. 

“It can be disheartening at times when looking at how things outside of the University are changing, and sometimes even other things within the University,” Jones said. “Luckily, as a student-run club, we’re able to keep doing what we’re doing, but it’s still really bizarre.”

Mengesteab also emphasized the importance of community during times of uncertainty.

“There is a lot of feelings that permeate our culture, sometimes around what’s going on, but I think the sense of community that we create here, hopefully is able to transcend that a lot of the time,” Mengesteab said. 

Code Black and LA/CSC are currently welcoming new members. For more information, visit their website.