T

he cancellation of the Fighting the Fight Against Breast Cancer by Los Medanos College Associated Students (LMCAS) caused controversy among student leaders. Those who were involved in the planning were upset that their hard work was for nothing, and the doctor and nurse who agreed to take part in the Oct. 12 event highlighting Breast Cancer Month at LMC were disappointed, but it deserved to be cancelled.

Many would argue against our point, but when it comes down to it, whether a clerical error is what caused the cancellation of the event, or if it was due to low registration, the free event did not get enough people to register by the deadline put in place by the committee that was made by LMCAS to plan it.

It’s harsh, we know that, but if there was a deadline put in place and a Plan B was formed, which they discussed creating at the Sept. 9 LMCAS meeting.

In that meeting LMCAS Treasurer Rosanna Clark reported that registration was low, and the Associated Students funding the event discussed that it may be time to start getting a Plan B together.

The two people who were most upset about the event being canceled, Clark and Sherrie Anderson, were at the meeting and both spoke about the possible need for a Plan B.

Clark, was the one who presented the low registration that brought up the discussion of a Plan B being put in place. Moreover, Sherrie Anderson, who lost her position as student rep over the cancellation of this event, pointed out at the same meeting that the event should be canceled sooner rather than later.

If the two people who are the most offended by the way the event was canceled could see that it had problems early on, then why is there all the controversy?

It’s simple, both put hard work into making the event a success and the event failed. It is hard to take failure, and it is even harder when you feel it wasn’t any fault of your own that led to the failure.

While something like this hurts, it happens to all of us at some point in our lives, and when it does happen we need to learn from it.

What people should understand is the cancellation of the single event did not stop the LMCAS from still raising funds for a breast cancer scholarship.

Thanks to the initial fundraising for the event, the gathering of both money and items for donation, LMCAS was able to partner with the sports teams events like Volleyball’s Dig Pink and football’s Catch Pink and make them a huge success while raising money for a breast cancer scholarship.

While there is no arguing that a conference that was slated to have an oncology doctor and nurse speak about the importance of early detection and more, events associated with sports like Dig Pink and Catch Pink draw more students on campus and impact a wider audience.

At the LMCAS meeting on Oct. 28 Interim Dean of Student Success David Belman who was present to speak on another topic he commented on how big of a success the Catch Pink event was.

He added that he was sitting with fellow staff member who had never attended a football game at LMC, and did not even know the rules of the game, but he attended the game to support breast cancer and take part in Catch Pink.

In the end the controversy caused a bit of an uproar among a small group of student leaders, but overall there was a large impact towards breast cancer awareness, and funding was raised for a breast cancer scholarship. The event may have been canceled, but the message stayed alive and it was the right thing to do.