One of the draws of American River College are the communities of support it offers for students who identify with marginalized communities, which ARC calls its “Learning Communities.”

According to the ARC website and application for incoming students, the learning communities offered at ARC include the PRISE community (serving Pacific Islander,  Native Hawaiian, and Asian American students,) the Black Student Success Center, El Centro, (which serves the Hispanic, Latinx, and/or Chicano heritage students) and the Native American Resource center, among others.

In addition to these communities is the PRIDE learning community. At least, there’s meant to be one, the reality is a bit more complicated. It’s listed on the ARC website, it can be checked by incoming students as something they want to join and receive support from. The reality is that there’s currently no support to be found, and there hasn’t been for a year. Not for the PRIDE learning community and not for the students it’s meant to serve. That needs to change; the community needs support and the LGBT+ community  needs to stand up for itself and speak out for that change as well.

The web page for the PRIDE learning community offers a glimpse into what’s supposed to exist, including offering:

• Classes are taught by faculty allies who combine the content of courses with relevant LGBTQIA+ conversations.
• You will have a team of peers that share the same classes and receive support from instructors and a counselor to meet your educational goals.
• The PRIDE Learning Community and PRIDE Center will offer special workshops, field trips, and fun activities.
• Find a sense of belonging and a unique opportunity to succeed academically and personally with the support of your community.

As a nervous returning student, this all sounded great when I applied to ARC to attend in fall of 2024. I was told I’d be contacted before the semester started and guided on how to enroll for these amazing classes and community ARC promised. I waited and waited and heard nothing. It wasn’t until I walked into the Pride Center on the first day of classes that I learned the reality: there wasn’t actually a PRIDE learning community, there was no coordinator, no coordination, no structured support or student outreach and menial gestures to rectify that issue.

According to Sandra Guzman, the new Dean of the UNITE Center which houses all of the learning communities, efforts have been ongoing to find a coordinator to run the PRIDE Learning community after the previous coordinator’s term ended.

“Like all learning coordinators in this department, the Pride Center coordinator role runs in a cycle that allows all Faculty the opportunity to apply to be a coordinator,” Guzman said.  “ARC is committed to supporting the learning communities and works with our faculty colleagues to fill coordinator positions so students can continue to be supported in these spaces.”

Yet according to Sara Smith-Silverman, a professor of history at ARC, the position’s two instances of being posted in the last year have both gone up late, been under-advertised or limited in who could see it to apply. This along with little to no word on the status of finding a coordinator or the steps being taken in the process have led to some feelings of disillusionment in regards to ARC’s support of such resources; something that is especially disheartening when ARC is the only Los Rios college that seems interested in offering an LGBTQIA+ learning community.

“The lack of institutional flexibility is unacceptable in this political climate,” Smith-Silverman said. “We are in an urgent situation right now and admin needs to do more.”

When I spoke to Guzman, she said that learning communities are uniquely designed to meet the specific needs of their students and that ARC was dedicated to doing what was needed to ensure student support and success. According to the previous coordinator, David Austin-Shorpe, what’s needed is quite a bit of diplomacy, advocacy, and planning; all skills that would need to be foremost for any coordinator taking the position.

While Guzman had no new information at the time of the interview, in a more recent conversation, Austin-Shorpe said the position of coordinator would soon be filled come the fall semester of 2025. He expressed excitement for the currently anonymous appointee and offered his hope that the new hire would soon be able to offer the PRIDE learning community what it desperately needed: support and a dedicated focus.

The LGBTQ+ students at ARC need an advocate and support right now, as stress from the current administration’s targeting of the LGBTQ+ community continues. They need the mentorships and mental health support offered in the other communities at ARC and someone in authority to stand up for them. Hopefully, with the role of coordinator finally filled, they and ARC’s administration can start being there for a population that spans all races, genders, and backgrounds of the student body.