College campuses, unlike K-12 educational institutions have had substantially less in person attendance, in which the facilities were practically empty except for essential staff members and certain services provided to students. Fresno City College (CCC, California Community College) and Fresno State (CSU, California State University) are expected to hold in person classes for the upcoming fall semester.
However, with the rise of the delta variant, COVID-19 vaccinations are now going to be mandatory. All CSUs and CCCs currently enforce this rule, as do many other institutions (500+) across the country. But for whatever reason, some “students” are opposing the mandated vaccinations. How stupid; did we just not endure hundreds of thousands of causalities and a crippled economy? Now we’re finally finally in the throes of recovering (thanks to vaccinations and other COVID-19 measures) only for people to make a u-turn back into the pandemic?
Featured image: Anti-vaxxer Alyssa Jones, as seen in the linked article.
So, Fresno State has a LGBTQ+ certificate training program that takes place a few times a year; the one I took was back on March 16th. This event took place via Zoom, in which over 300 people registered, so much that several couldn’t actually attend the conference due to technical limitations. There were people of almost all backgrounds taking this program, be them straight, trans, queer, gay, lesbian, questioning, an ally (or wanting to be), African American, Muslim, <insert any label here>, they were all here.
The content of the program itself clarified the many labels and aspects of what LGBTQ+ is and answering any questions to those who didn’t exactly understand some aspects, such as with gender (transgender, agender, non-binary), and pronouns. Some asked how they could be a [better] ally, or most of all, how to not be rude if you cannot understand or confused (which, everyone inevitably will, even those that are actually LGBTQ+).
A slide from the conference.
This zoom conference was surprisingly interactive, in which anyone could participate (if the teacher permits) and share just about anything. It was wonderful to see faces and human interaction. There was so much good in this conference, and though I did not actively participate, observing was just enough with a hundred constantly interacting; it felt impossible to feel excluded.
So about that certificate, and the people that couldn’t attend due to technical limitations. An email was sent to everyone who registered, providing the recording of the conference (just the on the record sections), resources. The certificate, well, will take time; I still don’t have mine yet.
Since we had hundreds of attendees, it will take time to complete the certificates. We thank you in advance for your patience! (Estimated time 3-4 weeks) Please note, we will not be responding to individual emails about the wait time for the certificate, but we welcome any questions regarding the content of the presentation or our program.
Kiana Medina – CCGC Graduate Coordinator
I can for sure tell you, this makes me feel much better about going to Fresno State University, whenever I’m finished with Fresno City College. FSU even has a weekly LGBTQ+ discussion group.
