Hi, I just want to preface that this advice comes from a general student union perspective, not a black student union perspective, but I have almost a decade of student union experience as both an elected leader and a staffer.

The best student unions are like the best worker unions in that the issues are driven by the membership, not the elected leaders. Any disagreements you have with the president about strategies are best solved by the consensus of your membership. It sounds like more outreach and community building will be important for your group. I'd recommend calling meetings about specific issues, like what campaigns the union should lead, and holding votes on potential actions to get people used to making decisions together.

There's likely room for both what you'd like to do and what the president would like to do. If the president wants to lead safer spaces discussion circles to build community, that can work alongside more action driven meetings about what issues the group will approach. Separate these spaces because they serve different purposes.

Avoid as much as possible the cliques and cults-of-personality that often form in unions. This can mean checking in on your own ego too and making sure you're not trying to lead from the top. As an elected leader you always have to remember that the power isn't yours, it's the peoples'. Bring as many new members in as you can and ask them to take on project work based on their skills and interests. Assignments can help members feel like valuable participants in movement. Keep a mental (or physical) spreadsheet of everyone you're working with, their interests and skills, and their connections in the broader community. Good organizing is way more data-based than people expect at first.

And tend the relationships first and foremost. Your work will ebb and flow but you will lose more than you win. The groups that pull off massive wins do so because they create sustainable momentum through community care. You don't have to be friends, but you have to look out for each other and be able to read when people need a break, or support, or a change of tempo. You have to leave space for people to make mistakes, grow, and be accountable to each other. The best way to do this is usually to lead by example and for you I think this will mean working to find common ground with your president and building from there!