Have you ever found yourself wanting to join more clubs on campus? Be more active and social within the duck community? Do you not know where to start? The Multicultural Center, located in the EMU, is here for all students to find what they are looking for. The multicultural center is run by student organizations and unions to advocate for student rights as well as act as a social hub for connecting students to clubs and organizations all around the campus.
It was started by student activists and was originally thought of by about 10 student interns with a collective goal of inclusion. The Multicultural Center started as a way to improve campus safety and equality for women of color.
Over time, as the student body grew, the MCC has become a connection hub for students and clubs, and with resources like computers, printers, books and videos for the students, it is now a meeting space for people to come study and plan union projects. It is currently the home of roughly 25 student unions and 13 organizations.
“The MCC does a really good job of making sure all the clubs stay in the limelight, stay active, stay honest,” Vikram Thirumaran, the center’s student union engagement coordinator, said.
According to Thirumaran and Dinorah Ortiz-Carté, the program director for the multicultural and South Asian, Southwest Asian, and North African Center, the MCC’s success and strive for equality aren’t the only notable qualities of the center. The MCC is unique in the fact that it offers community engagement beyond unions and organizations.
The collection of students who frequent the MCC was described as a constant stream. “Students are able to kind of just be people and be themselves in the center, and it’s one of my favorite things to see,” Ortiz-Carté said.
For the MCC, helping students meet people and helping them build a social network is a huge part of what they strive to do. “People talk about how easy it is to meet people in college, ‘oh you’re all students, you’re all this,’ but it is hard,” Thirumaran said. Especially for students of color and of different minority groups, finding community can be overwhelmingly beneficial.
“I am really glad I get to flip the switch when I come straight from lecture to the MCC. It’s warm, it’s social. I’ve been coming here since freshman year,” Thirumaran said. “I just walked in because I heard there was free printing, and it’s blossomed into career opportunities. I’ve met almost all of my best friends here, and I have a job through here.”
The MCC can also be a connection hub for several other departments and clubs that extend beyond its resources. Other departments often post information about other clubs and classes in the center itself to help with student engagement and distribute information.
In other words, if you have questions about joining clubs on campus beyond the MCC, walk in and ask. The MCC will have the answers and connections to help get you started wherever you are interested.
“If we have a student who identifies as a Black student, they can come in, we can connect them to all of our different cultural African American Black student unions,” Ortiz-Carté said, “but we can also connect them to the black cultural center that is also on campus, and make sure we can do those warm hand-offs.”
The students of the center also dedicate a large portion of time and energy to fun, community-engaging events. Some of the upcoming events for the winter term include an MCC Prom and the comeback of the MCC “small desk concert” event.
No matter what you are looking for, whether it’s socialization, extracurricular activities, fun events, clubs, or to find a community on campus, the MCC is a great resource for students.
