As a part of St. Thomas’ Action Plan to Combat Racism, a new Intercultural Center held a grand opening on March 6 on the second floor of the Anderson Student Center.
The space, equipped with seating and computers, is designed for students to do homework, engage in informed conversations about diversity and encourage them to be themselves.
“Our campus is willing to have those conversations and build our intercultural competence with each other,” said Dia Yang, assistant director of Student Diversity and Inclusion services. “It’s showing our students, staff and faculty that we are listening and want to make sure there’s a space to have these conversations.”
Many students of color on campus have asked for a center like this for years. The student organization Students of Color: Claim our Seats was founded to protest the lack of funding given to multicultural clubs. The group drafted the idea of a multicultural center in December 2017.
“When events on campus happen—like hate crimes or something like that—SOCCOS was always adamant about wanting to do something about it,” said senior Sunita Dharod, Diversity Activities Board and SOCCOS member.
Along with SOCCOS’ efforts, student response to October’s racist incident played a role in the time the center was built, Dharod said.
“It took something, I think, more severe like what happened to actually wake people up to this issue,” Dharod said. “That sparked like, ‘There needs to be something done.’”
Black Empowerment Student Alliance arranged a silent sit-in protest where more than 500 students wore white and listened to speakers, dressed in all black, discuss their experiences on campus. Following the protest, students expressed their concerns, including the need for a multicultural center, at a three-hour discussion with administrators.
“The administration saw that, ok, so it’s not just this small niche group of students. It’s a lot of people who are in support of these students, so maybe it’s a thing we should act on,” said Aria St. James, BESA co-vice president.
“I think SOCCOS did help in a way,” Dharod said. “It was at the forefront of their mind.”
The space is used for a weekly conversation on race, with more than a 30 person turnout in the last several weeks. Yang sees a need to try and make these conversations more accessible due to students and community members’ busy schedules.
“People have a lot of different things they have to do after work, after class,” Yang said. “Midweek convo happens during the day at 3 p.m. every Wednesday, and we just have a conversation about race.”
“A big struggle on this campus is that students of color don’t feel as though there is a space where they can just kind of be themselves since this is a predominately white institution,” said St. James. “With their creation of the intercultural center, I think that’s what the goals are.”
While the center had a soft opening at the beginning of the semester, the grand opening didn’t happen until Wednesday, March 6.
“A lot of students are excited to use this space,” Yang said.
Emily Haugen can be reached at haug7231@stthomas.edu.