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Womens history events scaled back due to budget cuts
The Advocate
The “Herstory” series has been scaled back this year to two musically themed events, with diminished funds and volunteer availability cited as the primary reasons.
An MHCC tradition for 21 years and a key feature of Women’s History Month, the “Herstory” series showcases the unsung contributions of women.
Even as recently as a year ago, the events began in late January and extended to early March and included more than a dozen events.
This year’s “Herstory” coordinator, Mary Burlingame, inherited the role of “Herstory” coordinator when she took on her new job as the College Center bookkeeper/office assistant.
According to Burlingame, in discussions with David Sussman, manager of College Center Services, a decision was made to put the “Herstory” program more into the hands of MHCC students and less upon the committees that were primarily made up of faculty and staff.
Burlingame said, “I had a couple student volunteers but due to scheduling difficulties, I lost that help.” Burlingame ssaid the series was allocated $1,400 for this year, down from the previous $1,700.
The former co-coordinator of “Herstory”, Victoria Flagg, telecommunications technician in computer services, said she worked supervising the event along with former College Center bookkeeper Paula Cline from 2006 to 2009.
“The job (volunteer) was just about a full-time one and took months of planning” said Flagg. “I stepped down in 2009 due to burnout and handed the responsibility back over to the College Center and Robert Cox, then director of student life.”
Flagg said, “ASG has always been a financial supporter of Herstory, but since 2009, the program has to approach the ASG Senate much like a club would because it is no longer on the ASG line item budget.”
Flagg said, “Planning a program of this size can be difficult if you are not certain of funds availability.”
Flagg said, “Even though it is somewhat disappointing to see a smaller program this year, it is exciting to see new leadership forming.” Flagg added, “MHCC and Herstory are going through many changes and it is good to know that Herstory still happened even with the obstacles it faced.”
Asked about the the musical themes for the two events, Burlingame said that “arranging music events is what I know and do best.” Burlingame is a former employee of KMHD, the jazz radio station formerly broadcast from the MHCC campus.
The second music event will be held Wednesday, March 31, in the College Center Fireplace Lounge featuring the talents of an all-female saxophone quartet called the Quadraphones and will be joined by Susie Jones, director of the MHCC Jazz Band.
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