OUR LEGACY

CHRISTINA VARGAS, MS

Ms. Vargas is currently the Chief Diversity Officer and Title IX Coordinator at Suffolk County Community College.

Ms. Vargas told me, “My first resume was all about my student experience… any student organization can create leaders.” As a student at Stony Brook from 1986-1993, Ms. Vargas not only earned her degree in Management Policy and an MBA in Business but was deeply involved with the Black and Brown organizations on campus. She was the first person of color to be president of the Alumni Association. During her professional career, Ms. Vargas worked as head of the Office of Diversity and Equity until 2013.

Ms. Vargas worked as a part of the Minority Planning Board, an organization of students designed to represent the small Black and Brown community on campus. Working under the Student Activity Board, Ms. Vargas and her peers secured funding for Black and Brown organizations by being a united front, working together to establish a community for students of color. Due to the success of the Minority Planning Board, Black and Brown organizations were able to host their graduation event, published the Destiny Journal that highlighted minority students and organizations, and held events that often featured performers or speakers. Through this hard work, Ms. Vargas expressed a strong sense of community among students of color, who banded together to form a strong community and work together to preserve and grow the organizations that stand today.

As this generation rekindles Black World and reinvigorates the Black and Brown organizations on campus, we recognize that we stand on the shoulders of the generations of students that preceded us. Toufi mentioned that while working with the Haitian Student Organization (HSO), there was “a level of respect for those seen as ‘elders.’ They created something that touched their members and positively impacted the community.” Attending Stony Brook from 1993-1999, Toufi earned a master’s degree in English and Sociology with a teaching certificate. Working as a staff writer for Black World in 1996 and as Secretary of HSO, she helped found the HSO Alumni Association to connect present generations with the past.

Her time with HSO was distinguished by their activism, as the club helped to remove stigmas surrounding Haitian students during the AIDS epidemic. Through the efforts of the club and the arrest of two students following a protest at the Administration building, HSO helped remove the bar against Haitian students donating blood. Toufi further recalled the club building a strong sense of community as HSO hosted dances, semi-formals, and other events to expose Haitian culture to the student population. She and her peers were proud of their work, stating, “We felt an obligation to carry that torch.” HSO and other Black and Brown organizations carried the legacy of the cultures they represented and the generations that built the organizations that have created a strong community within Stony Brook.