Westhampton College dinner celebrates inclusion and student support
Campus Life
Warm and welcoming. Joyous and supportive. These were the words used to describe the 16th annual Connecting Womxn of Color event at the Queally Center in late October. The gathering was a dinner, not a conference as it has been in the past.
“We changed it to a dinner with table hosts this year based on student feedback that they wanted more opportunities to connect directly with campus mentors and each other for celebration and support,” said Mia Reinoso Genoni, Westhampton College dean and affiliated faculty with art and art history and women, gender, & sexuality studies.
The evening was cosponsored by the Student Center for Equity and Inclusion.
Fifteen table hosts helped facilitate the intimate conversations that were intended to be uplifting and affirming for the 75 students, faculty and staff members who attended.
The event connected women and gender-expansive people of Arab/Middle-Eastern, Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African-American/Caribbean/West Indian, Hispanic/Latinx, and Native/Indigenous descent and their allies. The goal was to have meaningful dialogues around issues important to them.
“Conversations were wide-ranging, including ways to get involved and feel involved on campus, sharing experiences, providing guidance and advice, and suggestions about other good resources and how to find mentors,” Genoni said.
“I asked them to share their middle names as a conversation opener,” said Betty Neal Crutcher, mentor-in-residence at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies and wife of the president emeritus. She served as one of the table hosts. “I’ve done that over the years at my own gatherings to help show things hidden or not as visible.”
Building on the evening’s theme, “Together We Rise: An Evening of Celebration and Solidarity,” Crutcher explained that knowing a person’s middle name often reflects their culture, rituals in giving middle names, or how elders are honored in families.
“The evening enabled all of us to learn more about one another and to build bridges of hope and understanding and to provide a greater sense of community among students, staff, and faculty,” Crutcher said.
Other table hosts included Dean of Admission Melissa Falk, Director of Career Development Leslie Stevenson, and Biology Professor Colleen Carpenter-Swanson.
“What resonates with me most is the amount of resources that are available on campus such as mentoring and how to navigate college,” said Ke’Asia Willis, a senior majoring in mathematical economics. “I also did not know how many women of color work at the University. It was dope to meet an African-American faculty member who teaches economics. After speaking with her, it felt good to know I might have her as a professor.”
Willis aspires to teach math to children in Title I programs after graduation.
Aaliyah McLean, assistant director in the Office for Institutional Equity and Inclusion was inspired by how the event brought multigenerational people of diverse backgrounds together to “sit in a moment and reflect.” One of her key takeaways from the evening was hearing, “You’re not alone in the issues you face.”
“Being in the same room or table with other women of color, it was gratifying to give each a smile and connect with other women and not try to hold everything in and on your shoulders,” McLean said.
“The Connecting Womxn of Color dinner creates a space in which women and gender-expansive individuals of color and their allies mindfully come together,” Genoni said. “It’s a time to talk about topics that matter to us, find ways to uplift each other, and celebrate ourselves.”