The LBCC commencement ceremony may look different this year, with professional name readers and symbolic, silent protests in support of terminated LBCC counselor Kashara Moore.
When the part-time employee was fired by the board of trustees last year for mispronouncing graduates’ names and allegedly elbowing a student onstage during commencement, many faculty and staff showed their support for their colleague and their disappointment in the board’s decision.
Name reading at commencement was previously a voluntary job that Moore signed up for during the 2022 commencement. During the celebration, Moore mispronounced student Carmina Barazza’s name. When Barazza suggested she say her own name into the microphone, Moore put out her arm to block the student, leading to what trustee members called an elbowing.
A wave of anger and disappointment was seen and felt within the union after the decision to terminate Moore was made.
This year’s graduates received emails from LBCC notifying them of their partnership with NameCoach.
NameCoach is a website where students can audio record their names on their site to ensure proper pronunciations of all names.
When asked if the school decided to pursue this route because of last year’s incident, Superintendent-President Mike Munoz stated, “I can’t really speak specifically to anything that could potentially involve her case. All I can say is as we were planning for this year’s commencement there were a variety of factors that were taken into consideration and we felt that after reviewing all of the different factors it made the most sense to hire.”
This route was not welcomed by all.
“This is the most embarrassing thing for this administration to have to hire a professional reader as a solution to what they did last year… If that is their reaction as a solution to what they did, I mean, shame on them,” Annahita Mahdavi West, friend and former colleague of Moore, said.
The support and solidarity of Moore will manifest in other ways during this year’s commencement ceremony.
“It (commencement) will be less attended…Some faculty may choose to use their leave and not attend. There will be symbolic messages,” PCC union representative and architectural professor Leslie Forehand said.
Those who decide to use a discretionary or sick day for commencement will not be reprimanded.
“If you call in sick, we don’t ask for a doctor’s note, we take your word at it. You can use one of your leaves.. Historically, we have not tried to verify those things and we’re not going to start this year,” Munoz said.