As we head out of February and into March, I think it is an important time to reflect on two powerful groups that should be celebrated. February was Black History Month and March is Women’s History Month. Binghamton University should find ways to highlight these communities to show our support as a college. This can be done in part by diversifying the community from which we buy, learn and listen.
One way to help celebrate and appreciate the hard work of the Black community within Binghamton is to support Black businesses. There are plenty of Black-owned restaurants, clothing stores, health service centers and more that are local for us BU students. You can simply look up a list of Black-owned businesses, or you can follow the Facebook page “Support Black Business 607” created by Sulaiminah Burns. The page, which is updated daily, highlights local businesses worth checking out.
This March is also a great time to support businesses owned by women. As fellow Pipe Dream writer Lorena Maggiore noted in an article listing some of the great women-owned businesses around Binghamton, the “Support Black Business 607” page reinvigorated business sales for a Black-woman-owned clothing store named Dayseon’s. It is one of the many businesses owned by Black women in the area that should be highlighted, especially during this time of the year.
But besides supporting these businesses, we should also learn about the hard work and dedication it takes to be a female entrepreneur. In 2018, a “Galentine’s Mixer” that gathered female business owners from around the Southern Tier was hosted by BU’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships. Last November, the External Scholarships and Undergraduate Research Center at BU held a “Women in Research Roundtable” discussion that let female students, professors and professionals shed light on their experiences as female researchers. This discussion helped reveal some of the sexism that they endured during their time in the lab. I believe that more of these meetups or workshops should be available through the month of March.
For example, the Society of Women Engineers, Girls Who Code, BU Women in Business (BWiB) and the Women in Finance Development Program are all clubs associated with BU that hold events to highlight women’s roles in male-dominated industries. Everyone, including men in these fields, should attend to listen to the stories of the female work, research and learning experiences. These stories are especially relevant for BU considering the lack of retention in diverse faculty members. Back in 2015, The Harpur Faculty Committee for Diversity and Inclusion found that while many white male faculty members were satisfied with the work environment, women and faculty of color resigned at disproportionally higher rates. We as a community should help all faculty and staff feel safe and comfortable in their workplace, and we can do that by having a more open discussion.
Annie Dineen is a freshman majoring in chemistry.