King’s has Forgotten Hispanic Heritage Month

Student Services Desk at The King’s College I Photo Courtesy of Myrian Garcia

The opinions reflected in this OpEd are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of staff, faculty and students of The King's College.

When I visited The King’s College as a prospective student in 2017, I remember meeting fellow visitors from different ethnic backgrounds and religions. Unfortunately, those at King’s, in actuality, are very different from its advertisements. Upon enrolling, the people I met were content in their Manhattan bubble. I heard many students claim to find many Hispanic and Black Manhattan Neighborhoods “scary.” Over the years, I have realized that The King’s College is also happy in its predominantly white bubble. 

My father is from Guatemala, and my mother is Puerto Rican. I feel right at home in my Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush and enjoy the Hispanic culture blended with other cultures in the city. 

Hispanic Heritage Month begins every year on Sept.15, near the beginning of the fall semester, and ends on Oct. 15. As a first-year student, I was surprised I heard no mention of Hispanic Heritage Month by King’s. Now as a senior, I am disappointed that for the past 30 days the school remained silent yet again. 

The students who belong to minority groups at King’s have spoken up about the lack of initiative from the school. Paige Hagy, a senior majoring in Journalism, Culture and Society (JCS), posted about xenophobia towards the Asian community during the peak of the COVID era when King’s failed to do so.

“We are disappointed in The King’s College’s failure to respond as they did during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement,” Hagy wrote in a social media post that was reposted by more than 70 King’s students. “We implore The King’s College to release a statement for the sake of the institution and its AAPI students.”

Brianna Jacobs, a senior majoring in JCS, wrote about her experiences as a Black woman at predominately white institutions like King’s. 

“When I go to college, another super white space, I knew what I was getting myself into. I’d been at PWIs literally almost my entire life. What was another? ... I spent my freshman year, again trying to be someone I was not, someone who I thought I was but wasn’t me at all,” wrote Jacobs.

Most recently, Sofia Valdes, a senior majoring in JCS, wrote a response to last semester’s Interregnum Opening Lecture featuring guest speaker Roger Kimball. 

“As a student of color, I have never felt embraced by the King’s community,” wrote Valdes. “During my time here, I have seen a lack of Christian hospitality from the institution.”

Black, Asian and Hispanic students have presented their concerns to the school’s staff and faculty, urging them to welcome a more inclusive community. 

While there are no professors of Hispanic origins, there is Hispanic representation in the staff and faculty who also have concerns. 

“As the world continues to globalize and as the U.S. moves closer and closer to a nonwhite majority population, I believe my ethnic heritage allows me to better identify and empathize with the student population,” said Andrea Lopez, a Mexican-American Director of Student Services and the advisor of The Table, in an interview. “As the daughter of immigrants and a first-generation college student, there is a larger number of students whose stories and experiences I innately understand.”

Lopez utilizes her background and perspective to advocate for the student experience. Still, her effort cannot be conflated with efforts made by King’s administration.

“Compared to when I was a student (2012-2015), King’s now has a more diverse staff demographic, published the Unity in Diversity statement, includes The Table and The Bridge, and has hosted multiple events discussing race. While I can acknowledge those changes, no, I do not believe King's does a good job of representing the Hispanic community,” said Lopez. “To me, that progress seems like the bare minimum and I believe there is a substantial gap between what King's proclaims it values and the practical manifestations of those beliefs.”

The Unity in Diversity statement states, “Many forms of diversity — including race, socio-economic background, national origin, sex, age, ability/disability and marital status — factor significantly into how one experiences, and benefits from, higher education. Beginning with the Christian conviction that every person is created in God’s image, a primary concern of God’s people is the right treatment of all humanity, especially the vulnerable.”

However, scrolling through the commitments, programs and coursework sections of the Unity in Diversity page, the Hispanic community is not included. The school now recognizes Black History Month and makes the effort to have lectures each February. Why not do the same for Hispanic Heritage Month? Or for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month? 

Instead, the Unity in Diversity page leads students to the resources section, which lists the student organizations such as The Table and The Bridge. The only mention of Hispanic or Asian communities are student-run organizations.

Earlier this month, the King’s Weekly invited the student body to attend the Hispanic Day Parade on Oct 9. I was shocked and asked Philip Molestina, events coordinator for The Table, if the event was actually initiated by the school. Unsurprisingly, The Table organized the event. 

During spirit week of the 2021-2022 academic year, King’s included a Cultural Celebration Day, which went poorly. Students were confused about the theme for the day since there was little clarification. The King’s Council turned to Instagram to clarify. While I enjoyed representing Puerto Rico at the school and trying foods from different countries, the whispers from the white majority who claimed to have no “culture” and “no reason to celebrate” were loud. 

Do not be fooled by the decorations at the Student Services desk, either. On Friday, Sep. 30, Student Services decorated the desk space with country flags, celebrities from Hispanic countries and staff and faculty members of Hispanic heritage. While I appreciate the dedication Student Services have to paste the pictures on the wall, this is not sufficient for solving the larger problem at hand. 

“The efforts I have seen in my 3.5 years at King's are either led by students or individual staff members,” said Lopez. “For me, key changes that would move the institution closer to its proclaimed priorities include hiring faculty from a more diverse ethnic background, changes in leadership on the Executive and Board levels, a staff hire specifically focused on multicultural efforts, and transparency regarding our staff, faculty, and student demographics. In my opinion, these changes around how the college distributes its resources and who has decision-making power will move the college away from tokenism and one-off efforts and instead create an environment in which our values are embedded into the efforts of the entire community and culture.”

Scrolling through the events calendar, I saw no events concerning the Hispanic community. The least King’s can do is to recognize Hispanic Heritage Month on the Unity in Diversity page on the school website. But what else would I expect from a school that still calls Indigenous People’s Day, Columbus Day.

Without student organizations such as The Table and The Bridge, the school would have nothing to hide behind.

Myrian Garcia is the Managing Editor at the Empire State Tribune. She is a senior studying Journalism, Culture and Society and is an intern at Religion Unplugged.