By Christian Bailey, The Whetstone

Some students said they were upset after they heard that the Black Student Union was allowed to show the movie Get Out, but the Student Activities Board was not.

“(SAB adviser Mark Berry) told us, since we are SAB we are supposed to attract everyone not just the minority students at Wesley,” SAB member Autumn Brown said. “BSU was allowed to show the movie because their organization is known to represent black people so they allowed them to show the movie.”

Students attending the BSU event said they were upset by what Brown told them.

“So, the black people can watch the movie but not the entire student body, that’s ridiculous,” freshman Vivian Adderly said.

SAB Advisor Mark Berry said he did not tell the students they couldn’t show the movies.

“Since I have been the SAB Adviser, the movie Get Out has not been discussed with me as a potential movie to show on campus,” he said. “I am not aware of them being denied the ability to show this movie.”

Dean Wanda Anderson also said Berry had anything to do with it.

“To my knowledge, SAB was not told they could not show the movie,” she said.

SAB members, including President Jeanerre Smith and Vice President Kabrea Tyler, also said adviser Mark Berry said they were not allowed to show the movies Get Out and All Eyez on Me.

Get Out, a film directed by Jordan Peele and starring Daniel Kaluuya, is about a black photographer dating a white girl he met in school. They go meet her family, but Chris, Kaluuya’s character, has no idea the family is running a business that auctions off black people to white people who want black people’s skills and traits. The mother later hypnotizes Chris and attempts to swap his brain with a white person’s brain to create something “perfect.” Chris kills the family.

All Eyez on Me is a film about the rapper, actor, poet and activist Tupac Shakur’s life, and stars Demetrius Shipp.

BSU Vice President, Laurelyn Richardson said she thinks she knows why only BSU was allowed to show the movie.

“The school looks at BSU as an org that caters to a specific group of people, even though we welcome everyone,” she said. “SAB is supposed to be for everyone, but Get Out shouldn’t only be shown to specific groups because the movie is also for everyone to see. To me, it doesn’t make sense and it is maddening that the school denied SAB for those reasons but let BSU show it.”

At least one student agreed with the decision to not allow SAB to show Get Out but didn’t understand why All Eyez on Me was cut.

“The movie is supposed to be for entertainment, but we all know there is a stronger meaning behind it,” senior Nyair Stanford said. “I think the Student Activities Board doesn’t have the message behind its organization. They are supposed to be for everybody to have fun. I can see why they would want BSU to do it, because SAB wouldn’t have a discussion after. Tupac is entertainment, it’s about a rapper. I disagree with them denying that movie.”

Reservations Coordinator, Naomi Rubin said she was unaware of the situation.

“The decision wouldn’t be made by me, it would be made by the CFO, but I highly doubt she denied it,” she said. “I’m looking in the paperwork and I do not see where it was denied.”

Rubin also said that BSU never submitted an event form to screen the movie.

“They reserved the room for a meeting,” she said. “Many times students don’t submit the proper paperwork so they are able to get away with things.”