Published on April 28, 2022

Dr. Cornel West states, “Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.” This quote sticks with Sewell because he is someone who has a passion for justice and a radical vision about equity. Along similar lines of Dr. West, he never wants others to forget that love looks like equity and value in institutional spaces. Caleb Sewell is a senior at the University of Missouri-Columbia, double majoring in Educational Studies and Black Studies. At the university, he has held various leadership positions. Most recently, Sewell served as the President of the Legion of Black Collegians, the first and only Black Student Government in the country. He is the Teaching Assistant for the award-winning program: Mizzou Black Men’s Initiative and the Vice Polaris for the Beta Tau chapter of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc. Sewell is a Ronald E. McNair Scholar where he completed research on the value gap, the belief that white people are valued more than others, in higher education with his McNair mentor Dr. Stephen Graves. He is also an undergraduate member of the Williams Research Group where he works under Dr. Michael Steven Williams and Dr. Marjorie Dorimé-Williams to look at issues in higher education. Sewell was the 2020 recipient of the Mizzou NAACP Medgar Evers Political Achievement Award. He also spent time as a Residential Advisor, student assistant at the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center, Summer Welcome Leader, and has presented research at national conferences. He aspires to earn a Ph.D. and join the professoriate to support equity in postsecondary education.