The beat of diversity fills the Bell Memorial Union Auditorium as the sound of drums surrounds students, faculties and performers. Red vibrant lights bouncing off of the curtains steals the audience from what was familiar and waits for something different.
The tone of the hosts was welcoming and comical. It was a start of the 30th annual Multicultural Affairs Council night, also known as MAC night.
People of all ages were excited to see the diversity Chico State has to offer.
“I am excited to see that there is actually diversity on our campus” said freshman business major Gesseli Gama.
MAC night happens every year at Chico State and the Multicultural Affairs Council is in charge of putting together a lineup of performers to make Mac night something special and different each year.
“Most people are not aware that we are given 40,000 dollars a year to give to organizations or people who want to put on an event or something to do with diversity,” said Multicultural Affairs Council member, Nicole Munoz-Proulx. “I helped out and contacted people to see if they would like to perform for MAC night.”
This year, the lineup had a mixture of dance and poetry from all around the world.
In one performance, the Afro-Caribbean dance club swayed around the stage while arching their backs, pumping their chest out in pride, holding hands and moving in unison.
Between performances the hosts shouted out trivia questions about the campus and rallied audience participation. They offered prizes such as t-shirts, stickers or pens that had some sort of diversity logo on them.
As the night went on, a few members of Women of Excellence recited poems glorifying infamous and admirable women in our society and continued to explain why they joined the group.
Shortly after the multicultural sorority Upsilon Kappa Delta went on stage to perform four dances all in one. They performed Bollywood from an Indian culture, Machata which is Puerto Rican, a Mexican dance called Quebradita and Hip hop.
“We chose to wear all black because it was neutral to all of the dances we were performing,” said President, Martha Julia Ayala. “Our sorority has been performing for MAC night for a long time now because we want to represent diversity and show people they can fit in anywhere and they can be comfortable on campus.”
The Filipino American Student organization performed a Filipino dance routine called Tinikling, involving fast leg movements over sticks. Then the night ended with Chico’s Full Force dance crew.
“The numbers do not lie. I read somewhere that there is only 2% population of black people on campus. It is outrageous to me, which is why it is so important for me to be a part of this,” Munoz-Proulx said. “There is that level of fear we are trying to take away from this campus. It is okay to be diverse. MAC night is to show that we are and cherish diversity.”
DJ Morris can be reached at [email protected] or @djthejournalist on Twitter.
