March marks Women’s History Month, a celebration of female empowerment, accomplishments, history and overall femininity celebrated all across the U.S., including here at LBCC. However, for a month-long celebration that aims to “provide students with mirrors in which to see their identity recognized, honored, and valued,” according to the official LBCC website, there isn’t much to really look forward to.
Besides activities hosted by clubs, there are only a few events put on by the school at LAC that actually are related to Women’s History Month this March; a Women’s History Month kickoff ceremony event that occurred on Mar. 4, a Sip n’ Science event on Mar. 17, a one and a half hour long chill session on Mar. 18 and finally a karaoke night on Mar. 24 to end the festivities.
Students might feel a bit of deja vu when looking at the list of events to celebrate women, as they are pretty much an exact replica of last month’s festivities celebrating Black History Month, where there was also a generic kickoff event featuring speakers, a sip n’ blank, and a karaoke night.
Instead of actually being a celebration for marginalized communities, events advertised on the LBCC website for these historical and cultural months on campus have become rather cookie-cutter, almost as if they solely exist to fulfill a quota.
Unlike the LBCC website would lead people to believe, there are a multitude of events that actually do celebrate communities on campus, however that’s not immediately obvious if students only look at the website’s calendar of events for things to do.
An exhibit on campus that looked at the history of Black culture on the TTC campus on Feb. 19, called the “Forgotten Images” exhibit, which was a collection of over 20,000 antique items and imagery in use during slavery and the civil rights era.
However, there were little to no advertisements or promotions on the LBCC website for the event at all, contributing to a reportedly low turnout of “under 100 people” according to a correspondent from Viking News who was at the event.
The events that were advertised however for Black History Month, instead were the same three generic events that occur for every cultural and historical month in the past and will continue into Women’s History Month and beyond.
According to Superintendent-President Mike Munoz, quoting a report put out by LBCC in 2021, “only about 49% of students felt like they belonged and mattered”.
Due to this, the school has made an effort to try and expand student interest and belonging, starting an initiative to “instill a sense of mattering and belonging in historically underserved students through welcoming, anti-racist, and inclusive programs and services”, based on the 2021 internal report discussing student belonging on campus.
In March 2024, a mural was installed by artist Pablo Pero on the side of the M building titled “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” that celebrates the multicultural student body on campus, and a pop-up photography exhibit celebrating Chicano student power was featured in the M building in an attempt to try and make students feel more connected to campus.
All great, of course, however, wouldn’t students, especially ones from marginalized groups, feel more of a belonging here on campus if the events made to celebrate them and look into their history and heritage were the ones being advertised instead of an event where students drink soda and do a paint-by-numbers activity?
These cookie-cutter events are always welcome as a way to have students connect and chill during a hectic student life; they don’t particularly need to be the sole advertisements as ways to celebrate marginalized groups on campus.
The represented group should be the focus of these events, rather than nothing more than a party theme; and when events that actually do look into the history or culture of the represented people come to campus, LBCC should make it a priority that the student body actually knows these events are occurring.
