Daily Sundial

The Black Student Union and the Ed??ucational Opportunity Program co-sponsored a screening of the film “Dark,” which is about a young man struggling to deal with being a student at the University of Chicago and living on the poor, south side of Chicago.

Monica Turner, part-time faculty in Pan African Studies, said “Dark” is a great vehicle for generating discussion about the problems students have in transitioning to college life.

The film deals with issues of drugs, crime, relationships, family and school. The major theme of the film is the challenge to balance higher education with the distractions and temptations of life.

Students from Turner’s public speaking class came to watch “Dark” in the Satellite Student Union building.

Turner also teaches in the summer Bridge Program – a program that helps incoming freshmen and sophomores navigate college life.

Turner said the EOP Bridge Program was designed to target the problems that keep freshmen from staying in their program past their third semester and to help them get involved in school activities.

Showing films is one of the many efforts made to address the low graduation rate at CSUN, specifically targeting freshman and sophomore students in a community forum, Turner said.

“This is an event that is proactive,” Turner said. “(There) is a lot of talk about low graduation.”

Several conflicts in the film mirror issues of students at CSUN, Shiva Parsa, coordinator of EOP Bridge Programs, said.

The Bridge Program uses movies to get freshmen and sophomore students involved at CSUN, Parsa said.

Other films screened for students include “Storm of Valley State,” about the creation of EOP, “Drumline,” “Smoke Signals,” a story about the turbulent relationship of a young Native American man and his father, and Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine,” Parsa said.

Turner held a short question and answer session after the movie. EOP student leaders began the conversation by talking about what they liked about the movie.

Akeem Washington, junior environmental science major, talked about how he identified with the main character, Dark Freeman, in the movie.

Washington said he believed the movie was realistic in its depiction of a student struggling between two worlds.

Washington said that for him there were two different personas. One was his L.A. persona he had for when he was around his friends and in his neighborhood. The other persona was for CSUN.

“You have to adapt, you have to be a chameleon,” Washington said.

Washington shared about having to balance a relationship, work and going to school.

“When you’re young, your life starts to move fast,” Washington said.

Parsa said Freeman was not facing things from his past that were negatively affecting his life now.

“He (Freeman) wasn’t dealing with things from his childhood,” Parsa said.

Turner also shared her concerns about students making their way through school.

“I see students drop (out of school) like flies semester after semester,” Turner said.

Turner shared her life experience and how she dropped out school when she was young to start a family and then came back to school years later. She stressed the importance of getting a college education.

“Get it (an education) while you’re young,” Turner said.

Joseph Wilson can be reached at joseph.wilson.65@csun.edu.