By Christian Tufino
Black History Month has come to a close, and despite national conversations about race becoming tense, Plattsburgh State has celebrated openly and proudly.
With President Trump making Diversity, Equity and Inclusion offices a target for constant cutbacks and demonization, SUNY Plattsburgh’s DEI office worked hard to keep events planned and awareness up throughout February to uphold its values.
Allison Heard, vice president of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion department on campus, assures the students of SUNY Plattsburgh that their campus remains a safe space for members of all racial identities.
One of the biggest examples of how the campus is remaining faithful to its DEI office’s principles is how it hosted events to facilitate conversations around race over the course of this year’s Black History Month.
“One thing that doesn’t change is our commitment to our community, and we have a vested interest in making sure that we embrace the diversity of our student population,” says Heard.
Regardless of the political climate, Heard and the DEI department host events including movies, school dances and other interactive events to represent the importance of Black History Month.
Heard and the DEI department make great efforts to encourage campus to embrace Black History Month and Black students, Gedeon Koko-Algobleto, German-African SUNY Plattsburgh student, feels as though student engagement has room to improve.
“There needs to be more advocacy for black students, not just by black students, but all students,” says Koko-Algobleto.
One of the biggest problems with needing to reach more students is the decline of student involvement on campus. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, participation and attendance numbers for on-campus events have been down across the board, according to the Center for Student Involvement. The DEI’s Black History Month events are no exception to this downward trend.
This doesn’t mean students don’t want or need these events though, as the students who do attend are active, and it is important that campus continues to educate students however it can.
“We realize there are a lot of events on campus, and people are really savvy about how they devote their time, but there is certainly interest, and for that we are eternally grateful,” says Heard.
Even though attendance has been low in recent years, people still express interest through sign ups and emails, which creates an important separation between attendance and engagement.
Events are still being constantly engaged with, through Cardinal Link, email and other digital means.
The events that have seen greater success amongst the students are ones Koko-Algobleto would like to see more of, possibly helping boost student engagement.
“We want more fun and engaging events, healing circles, more spaces to talk, things like that,” says Koko-Algobleto.
Black History Month has been officially recognized for 48 years, nonetheless, overall knowledge of Black history is not as common as you’d think. Chris Chambers, Coordinator of Multicultural Initiatives, believes the lack of knowledge and comfortability can be a factor in attendance and engagement.
“People are at different stages of knowledge of Black history, and so for some folks the movies are engaging, but for those who know more it might be more emotionally or mentally taxing to engage with,” Chambers said.
As Black History Month came to an end, the DEI department, through movies, dances and other interactive events, celebrated Black History and spread knowledge of it across campus.
