The much-anticipated MRC will celebrate its grand opening with a series of events intended to introduce the center to the campus community.
Established in large part as a response to student demand last semester, the center is located in room 006 of the Keefe Campus Center, in space vacated by the Association of Amherst Students.
“It’s about communicating, not about segregating,” said Merle Smith ’09, “It’s never about celebrating one person over another.”
The MRC features a library of books and documentaries that “focus on diversity and celebrate culture—things you might not find in another library,” Smith said.
Perhaps the most prominent element of this week’s activities thus far is the Human Race Machine, a computerized visual simulator in the Campus Center atrium. “The responses have been mixed,” said Area Coordinator Christopher McMillan, co-director of the MRC. “Some people aren’t open to change, others are,” he said. “There is a group of minds that can be changed, and we’re interested in offering different opportunities for education.”
The machine has, if nothing else, helped to start the very conversation the center is intended to stimulate and facilitate. “I see the role of the Multicultural Resource Center as a communication hub on campus that supports and fosters collaboration among those interested in diversity issues,” said Student Affairs Officer for Diversity and Academic Support Raquel Cardona ‘04, co-director of the MRC.
“The Amherst College Multicultural Resource Center endeavors to create a more inclusive community by acknowledging, celebrating and promoting the diverse experiences of every student,” states the MRC’s mission statement. “Toward this goal, it seeks to educate, support and connect a variety of constituencies including students, student groups, administrative and academic departments, staff and alumni to explore complex issues of race, class, ethnicity, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, ability, religion/spirituality and political ideology.”
Smith stressed that the MRC hopes to highlight all aspects of different cultures, not exclusively race. “We’re diverse not because of our colors, but because of our ideas, because of our backgrounds,” he said. “It’s much deeper than race.”
The center will be staffed by student volunteers, with daily drop-in hours and weekly study breaks planned, as well as programs and events throughout the semester. “People are really committed to seeing this center succeed,” Smith said.
In addition to other offerings, the center is organizing an ongoing mentoring program for first-year students. Twenty upperclassmen will start training Friday for the program, in which they will be paired with first-years based on their self-identifications. “[First-years] write down their cultural identity,” Smith said. “If you define yourself as a videogamer, or as an African-American female, then that’s who we match you with.”
Smith described the mentorship program as the center’s most ambitious project. “It gives students someone to talk to—a confidant—someone they might not have otherwise,” he said. The center’s mentors will work closely with the Academic Peer Mentor program, and with other groups on campus. “It helps first-years realize the resources available to them.”
Smith and McMillan both hope to see the center used to its fullest potential. “We’re here to help people, to give support and to direct them to the right spaces on campus,” Smith said.
McMillan expects the center to be more than just a space to hang out. “It’s about a way to bring the whole campus together,” he said.
The idea of a multicultural center had been bounced around for a few years and came to the forefront last year, following an incident in which several Hampshire College students were harassed outside of Crossett Dormitory, after leaving a GAP Party. A number of campus conversations followed, including a “Be Heard” event in February in which students, faculty and administrators packed the Red Room to discuss issues of diversity and inclusion.
Smith said that, while “Be Heard” helped rally the cause of the MRC. “Our goal is to do new stuff,” he said. “We’ve done ‘Be Heard.’ We’ve done informal town meetings. We need more original ideas, and to not just draw upon the same people over and over. We’re trying to tread a new path.”