As the College continues to tread the circuitous path towards a multicultural center, it can look to its rival up north for a template. Williams College has had a multicultural center since 1989 and currently has offices spreading over three buildings and a staff of five full-time employees.

“The Multicultural Center has always been, or at least what we’re trying to aspire to, is a clearing house for issues around diversity,” said Director of the Williams Multicultural Center (MCC) Gail Bouknight-Davis. “Generally, the MCC has been seen as a place for advocating for students, a place for programming and education for the general community and beyond,” she added.

Bouknight-Davis said that the center has five main components: academic programs, student programs, student advising, workshops and training, and receptions and ceremonies.

For academic programs, the center puts on a lecture series on issues of diversity. Bouknight-Davis said that they are currently evaluating the center to determine what ways it can further contribute to the academic mission of the college. To achieve the goal of integrating the center into the curriculum, it has taken on a professor as a faculty advisor.

The center supports a host of student programs. These include a “canvas project” which brings art and issues of multicultural advocacy together for four to five installations each year. It organizes an orientation program called Bridges, in which all students are invited to discuss pluralism, identity and community. There are also a number of heritage programs that the center supports, such as International Week, Latino-Heritage Month and Caribbean Heritage Week.

In addition, the center acts as an advisor for the close to 15 minority-student organizations on campus. It provides a meeting space, prepares and oversees budgets, helps plan programming, advocates for the groups and helps take care of funding and payments. “In one way or another, the center really does touch all students,” Bouknight-Davis said.

When the center first opened in 1989, its purpose was to provide a place of comfort for the few minorities on campus. However, as the demographics of the campus have changed, so has the mission of the center.

“Overall, the goal is to serve the whole community. I think it is moving from the image of just serving a small population of students to serving all students,” Bouknight-Davis commented. She added, “All students need to realize that diversity affects everyone.”