This week, the AHANA+ Leadership Council (ALC) is hosting its annual AHANA+ Acronym Week celebration. Juliann Zou, ALC’s marketing coordinator and MCAS ’23, said that the events held throughout the week are meant to unite students across campus and reflect the core values of ALC.
“One of our core values is just to make sure the voices of minorities on campus are heard,” Zou said. “We want people to learn how to be more respectful and conscientious.”
Monday’s event was the ALC Games, where students could hang out on the quad, play lawn games, and listen to music together. It was meant to be an introductory event for the week with an informal atmosphere where students could get to know each other, Zou said.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, ALC held a “Dress with Respect” campaign. Zou said that since Acronym Week is near Halloween this year, they decided it would be important for a discussion on costumes and cultural insensitivity to take place. The Dress With Respect talk, which took place in McElroy Dining Hall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., promoted culturally appropriate Halloween costumes and explained how to be respectful while choosing an outfit.
“It’s not about telling telling people what is okay and what is not okay to wear on Halloween,” Zou said. “We just want to tell people to be more considerate and more conscientious when you’re choosing your costume because at the end of the day it’s your personal decision and choice to make.”
On Thursday, ALC hosted the Teddy Bear Initiative. Students had the opportunity to make their own teddy bear and engage in small group discussions about race and identity at Boston College. ALC wants to create a comfortable and casual environment where students can talk about what’s important to them, according to Zou.
Friday’s event is Shipwrecked, a Halloween celebration that Zou said will be replacing the traditional ALC Boat Cruise of previous years. Shipwrecked will be held at the Royale Nightclub from 7 to 9:45 p.m.
Victoria Ang, ALC director and MCAS ’20, said in an email to The Heights that the administration had safety concerns about past ALC Boat Cruises’ operations.
“Now that the event is at Royale, it is a lot safer for students, and the capacity for students that can attend has doubled from 600 to 1,200 students,” Ang said in the email. “With a higher event capacity, this event can be more inclusive to a larger portion of the student body.”
Zou believes it’s important for students to participate in AHANA+ Acronym Week in order to create a more respectful atmosphere at BC.
“The Undergraduate Government at Boston College wishes to make for a more inclusive environment,” she said. “The more we know about each other’s cultures and the more we understand each other, the better our community becomes.”
Featured Image by Celine Lim / Heights Editor
