Creating a place on campus to feel safe and secure

Southwestern College’s new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion department was created less than a year ago to equally meet the needs of all students on campus, regardless of race, gender, religion or sexual orientation.

Dr. Guadalupe Corona is the director of the state funded program to support a student equity plan by equally providing tutoring, book service and other services to students.

Corona’s work at SWC includes enhancing the cultural competency awareness on campus amongst students, staff and faculty.

She trains faculty members how to have safe zones on campus, areas on campus where Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender students can go and feel supported.  Corona has a $1.8 million budget to operate with.

But Corona’s work does not stop on campus.  She also tries to serve her students in the community.

Last week, Corona teamed up with St. Paul Episcopal Cathedral Church in Bankers Hill to memorialize the 49 victims who died in the Orlando shooting massacre.

Corona said the event drew more than 400 people including local elected officials, about 40 organizations and members of the Latino and LGBT community and officers from the San Diego Police Department.

Corona said the event was a call out to the San Diego community to fully embrace the tragic murders of 49 innocent lives at Orlando’s Pulse Night Club on June 12.

She said that tragedy hit home for many San Diegans.

“As you know in Orlando, 80 percent of the victims were Latino,” she said. “So it wasn’t a coincidence we were targeted. It wasn’t just the LGBT community but it was a Latino and LGBT community incident. There was a lot of things reported in the media but it does not take away that it was a targeted Latino club with Latino LGBT members.”
Corona said the memorial service was designed to be an inclusive service where everyone was welcomed rather than a religious service.

“We wanted to send the message to San Diego that we are one community,” she said.

“For me being part of this event sent a message to the Latino community that there are safe spaces and there are people who do care about family and children who need support and who feel that there’s no place for them.”

The highlight of the night, Corona said, was having a Catholic Bishop at the memorial service because that was a sign that the LGBT community was welcomed in the church.

“For many who were there who are practicing Catholics, that really sent a message that they were welcomed,” she said. “And if anything that was the biggest contribution we did together,” she said.