For the entirety of the Cultural Inclusion Council (CIC) Fashion Show, the crowd was cheering and clapping.
On Saturday, March 4, the fifth annual Fashion Show was held in the University Center Meyer Ballroom. To kick off the event, the first new association since the 1980s was announced, the Asian Student Association (ASA) has been officially inducted to CIC. The organization also revealed a new logo, which is a gender neutral face made up of different countries throughout the world.
The models were comprised of members of CIC councils: ASA, Native American Student Association (NASA), Black Student Association (BSA), Ho’olokahi Polynesian Association (HPA), International Student Association (ISA), Genders and Sexualities Association (GSA) and Latino Student Association (LSA).
The outfits reflected each identity of the person wearing them and followed the theme of time. Every model strutted down the runway with confidence that elicited whoops and applause from the crowded room.
“We decided to go with time because it fits everyone’s associations. Unfortunately some of these associations don’t have the privilege of going through decades. They only have traditional to modern because there has been so much wrong done to these communities,” Velazquez-Saenz said.
Director of CIC Yulisa Velazquez-Saenz, Assistant Director Nathaniel Ansah, Communications Director Genavee Gonzales and Assistant Coordinator of Inclusivity Ukhari Bradfield provided commentary as well as giveaways throughout the event. They hyped the crowd up and introduced the associations.
Following the theme of time, the table decorations were articles from the 1930s until present day that show how unaccepting the campus community was to CIC and their associations when it was first introduced and how that perspective has changed over time. Ansah noted that there is still change to be made and led the crowd in a chant of, “When do we want it? Now!”
Though this is a huge event for Colorado Mesa University, Velazquez-Saenz noted that many students on campus do not know what CIC is.
“Sometimes it’s hard for people to associate themselves with a minority group because they’re like, ‘am I going to be judged by them?’ We live in a very conservative town, so it’s really hard for people to see and support groups that look different from them, because they feel that they might just be associated with that from now on. There’s so much more that goes into being an ally, you can help to validate someone’s persona and the stuff that we just go through, not only on campus, but in the community,” Velazquez-Saenz said.
The overarching message of the Fashion Show and other CIC events is to promote inclusion and instill acceptance. The next event will be the HPA Lau’au on April 1 located in the UC Meyer Ballroom, tickets can be purchased Online or in the Student Life office.
