Correction: A previous version of this article misnamed the Native American and Indigenous Collaborative as the Native American Indigenous Coalition. The article has been corrected.
LBCC’s student trustee gave a heartfelt report during Long Beach City Colleges first Board of Trustees meeting this month on Wednesday.
The meeting began with the usual review of closed session items, topics that cannot be discussed during the general public meeting. The board announced a 3% increase to Superintendent-President Mike Munoz’s annual salary from $325,008 to $334,750.
It is standard during these monthly meetings for every board member to give a five minute report on the work they have been doing for the school, including LBCC’s ASB President and the school’s student trustee.
Emma Manetta, who was elected to be LBCC’s student representative during the Fall 2023 semester, rather than giver her usual report, opted to talk about the recent death of a Choctaw Nation and nonbinary high school student Nex Benedict in Oklahoma.
Manetta spoke at length about the ways she saw the struggles of her and other Native students at LBCC in Benedict’s story, as well as the need to acknowledge the disproportionate rates of violence Native Americans face in the U.S.
“I want to use my voice, my platform and my agency to help my community both on campus and off,” Manetta said.
As part of the Native American and Indigenous Collaborative at LBCC, Manetta recently reached out to different departments to share a form she designed to survey Native students and record their experiences at LBCC.
“Our youths are having their right to live constantly being taken away,” Manetta said.
Manetta hopes that departments will disperse the form and she will be able to use the reports to have a conversation with trustees about ways to best support Native students on campus.
“It pains me knowing that our community members, on a weekly basis, are on the edge of dropping out of LBCC and feeling like they are not part of the community, like they are not being heard,” Manetta said.
Manetta began to tear up as she finished speaking, the emotion strong in her voice.
The board also acknowledged the work of the Black History Month planning committee, recognizing two committee chairs, student counselor Erainia Freeman and Academic senate president Jerome Hunt for their events programming.
“This has been an amazing month. I can honestly say in the 20-something years I’ve been here, this was the most exciting. You felt the energy and positive vibes from the moment you went in the room,” Freeman said. “You can tell someone’s having a good time when they don’t want to leave.”
According to Hunt, the Black History month celebration had the greatest number of attendees at this event compared to previous heritage celebrations, with trustee and board President Vivian Malaaulu agreeing that it was the most attended celebration she had ever seen in her time at LBCC.
“It’s a complement (to have such a well attended event) to having an amazing committee. Everyone had a very positive energy when the planning began,” said Freeman.
The next Board of Trustees meeting will occur on March 13 in room T-1200.