The University Heritage Committee struggles to balance in-person and virtual events for heritage months while prioritizing students’ health amid the ebb and flow of COVID-19.
However, organizers are finding new strategies to successfully plan events with National Hispanic Heritage Month, American Indian Heritage Month, African American History Month, etc.
“The difficulty last fall was to decide whether the events would be virtual or face-to-face,” said Dr. Elizabeth Murakami, committee chair for the Heritage Months. “We all came back to school after the pandemic last fall based on state requirements, so it was a victory for us to organize events and to have people come to the events.”
Murakami said the committee was happy to see speakers come to the university and students engage with the activities and festivities of the National Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff Pachanga in the the Central Academic Building courtyard last fall.
The committee is made up of Texas A&M University-San Antonio faculty, staff, students and student groups.
The Office of Equity and Inclusive Excellence organizes events for all the heritage months, so it is easier to coordinate the events, said Murakami, who also serves as special assistant to the president on diversity equity and inclusion.
However, the pandemic is far from over. The committee hosts educational learning events and events celebrating culture, while still following state guidelines and not obstructing important heritage-related conversations among students, faculty and staff.
For in-person events the committee encourages attendees to wear masks, use hand sanitizers and be respectful of people’s boundaries.
To also accommodate attendees’ comfort levels, the committee uses passive events that do not require a lot of interaction. The organization is also intentional about using bigger spaces for events. Instead of using small classrooms, the auditorium is used so people can social distance and sit where they feel most comfortable.
Myrna A. Garza, coordinator of First-Year Experience, said it’s important to be cautious about the way they plan events.
Garza joined the committee in summer 2020, and she observed how everyone navigated exclusively through virtual events. When she started planning the American Indian Heritage Month in summer 2021, she struggled between incorporating in-person and virtual events.
Graza said that it is sometimes difficult to coordinate the events with other on campus organizers.
“That was one balance that I was trying to work with,” Garza said.
The American Indian Heritage Month had eight initiatives planned throughout November: Six in-person events, one that was streamed through Instagram and two fully virtual events.
Despite difficulties in planning because of the pandemic, Garza said she was still happy with the turnout rate for most of the events, which averaged 50 attendees combining students, faculty and staff for in-person events and varied between 90 to 20 attendees for virtual events.
The committee planned a digital resource display that used the televisions across campus to share resources on how to support indigenous communities during Native American Heritage Month. It also displayed around five different communities, organizations and artwork by Dr. Stephanie Black, assistant professor of management at A&M-San Antonio that featured different Indigenous communities.
Incorporating virtual events allows the committee to reach different populations, accommodate people’s schedules and invite speakers who normally wouldn’t be as accessible.
“It’s a great way to see others and have conversations. The chat box is used a lot, it’s a way to connect and have conversations while attending these events,” Garza said.
For more information on the university’s heritage month events visit the University Heritage Month’s website or contact the Office of Equity and Inclusive Excellence at equity@tamusa.edu.
