Two Sonoma State University students were recently given the opportunity to learn from Rev. James Lawson, a civil rights activist and ally to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Last Tuesday’s elections brought a new wave of hope and progress for the transgender community when, according to ThinkProgress, eight openly transgender candidates won their positions. 

Max Luque, a senior English major, described his initial reaction to the election results as a “pleasant surprise,” given ongoing bigotry and misunderstandings about trans identities. 

Luque said he saw the results as a message that the community will not reinforce hate and looks to promote progressive thinking. 

The School of Extended and International Education is teaming up with NomaCares to provide a Fire-Impact Scholarship, which will help Sonoma State University students affected by the North Bay fires to further their education.

According to Jamie Zamjahn, the head of NomaCares, full scholarships for Winter Intersession 2018 are being offered to students who lost homes to the fires. 

After the devastation of the North Bay fires, some within the Sonoma County community may be asking, “Now what?”

To train a grasshopper, you must leave it in a shoebox. A grasshopper can jump ten times its body height but will only jump as high as the imagined barrier after the lid comes off the box. 

This is the metaphor Bert “The Mentor Guy” Gervais used when describing leadership as he reiterated the importance of not standing in your own way and “removing your lid” at this years Emerging Leaders Conference on Sunday at Sonoma State University. Gervais also used his stories of emigration from Haiti and struggles in college to inspire students.

Sonoma State University’s Black Student Union is working with Counseling and Psychological Services, better known as CAPS, to hire more counselors of color, one of many goals proposed in the union’s list of demands.

This list was made during the fall 2016 semester to promote diversity and support black students at Sonoma State.

In honor of Banned Books Week, an annual weeklong celebration of the freedom to read all books, a new event called the Hunt for Freedom will be held Sept. 25 – 27 at Sonoma State University’s library.

The Hunt for Freedom, which is hosted by the library and the Center for Ethics, Law and Society, brings awareness to the dangers of censorship and emphasizes books that disrupt social norms, according to Joshua Glasgow, the center’s director.  

As the Green Music Center seeks to use more community volunteers instead of student ushers, a handful of current ushers will be given new work opportunities.

Under a new policy enacted during the summer, volunteers will be employed as ushers alongside students. Kathryn Stewart, the associate director of communications for the Green Music Center, said no student ushers will lose their jobs under the new policy.

A new legal clinic for name and gender changes is set to start at the Empire College School of Law during the second week of September 2017.