In our research for our Black History Month special section, we uncovered a pretty incredible fact, and we don’t know why we didn’t know it before.

While researching for our Black History Month special section, we learned that Black United Students, which was founded at Kent State on May 21, 1968, was the first group to celebrate what was once “Negro History Week” as Black History Month. The federal government officially recognized the month six years after BUS’s initial celebration in 1970.

We began to ask ourselves why we didn’t know this crucial piece of information about our university. We are journalists, after all, and we pride ourselves on our knowledge of facts, especially ones as significant as this. Then we realized something even more disheartening. If we, the people who are supposed to know everything there is to know about this university, didn’t know this fact, how many people in the general student body don’t know, either?

We can only plead ignorance, and to us, that’s not a good enough excuse. Through our reporting for the Black History Month section, we uncovered many interesting facts and read about important people who shaped what this university into what it is today. We’re happy to say we’re coming away a little bit more informed, though we realize there is so much more for us to learn.

We want to encourage other students to search beyond what they think they know about our university and the students, past and present, who have gone here. The library has an entire department dedicated to preserving the past filled with photos, newspaper articles and documents that reveal a rich history in pretty much any topic you could think of. We realize you have tests to study for and Instagram photos of your cat to post, but when you do have some spare time, why not check it out? You might just walk away a little more informed, and that’s better than being ignorant.

The above editorial is the consensus opinion of the Daily Kent Stater editorial board.