On Friday, Nov. 2, Student Assembly’s Cultural Affairs Committee hosted its first Student Diversity Council meeting to discuss events for cultural organizations on campus. Most leaders from cultural organizations on campus were present.
At the meeting, Luis Morales ’20 and Jiin Jeong ’21 shared their goals for International Week (held between Nov. 5 and 9) and their hopes to facilitate collaboration between student groups and the Cultural Affairs Committee in the future.
Morales, the Social Activist Chair of the Black and Latinx Student Union (BLSU), an elected representative for the Class of 2020 on Student Assembly, and a member of Student Assembly’s Cultural Affairs Committee, commenced the meeting by communicating the planned events for International
Week, beginning with the raising of flags from the home countries of international students in Commons and concluding with Multilingual Day, where students will offer presentations on the languages of the world and learn about the history of languages, new alphabets, and phrases. The event will take place in the Red Pit from 3:30–4:30 PM and will be followed by a “Multicultural Mayhem” dinner and celebration in the Events Barn at 7 PM, hosted by On The Move.
Morales has also led efforts to play popular music from different countries during the week in Sadove and the Opus cafes.
Back at the meeting, after the student members of the Committee presented their role in assisting the various cultural organizations, everyone split up into smaller groups to have a conversation facilitated by a committee member.
A group consisting of the Arabic Club, Queer Student Union (QSU), and the Spanish Club discussed the major events that each group would be hosting over the course of the next two semesters, as well as their view of how the Cultural Affairs Committee could be most helpful in assisting their efforts.
Responses included creating smaller events aimed at group unity and creating an “open door policy” to foster an environment in which any suggestions and ideas from various cultural groups could be heard.
The rest of the conversation concerned upcoming culturally-significant events. The Queer Student Union mentioned the Day of Silence, which spreads awareness about the bullying and harassment of queer students.
To synthesize the ideas generated in small group discussion, Morales called for everyone to return to the conference table at the end of the meeting.
Jiin Jeong, a Student Assembly Representative for the Class of 2021 and the Chair of the Cultural Affairs Committee, spoke about providing funding for cultural holidays, forming a shared Spotify playlist with diverse music, and creating a cultural events calendar for all upcoming events.
There was also discussion of a Student Diversity Council fundraiser, where groups could sell culturally-relevant food or items in support of a charity, an idea proposed by Delta Reyes ’20, President of BLSU.
Finally, each leader shared what upcoming events their organization would be hosting this semester, encouraged other council members to attend, and emphasized that their groups would benefit from the Committee’s assistance.
Jeong concluded by speaking about the Committee’s goals to make the next year more inclusive to other cultural organizations outside the ones in attendance.
