After a public forum, a group of students who felt passionate about campus resources for marginalized groups decided Stevens needed an intercultural center. The center is meant to be an office for Diversity Education, which would focus on the needs of minorities and promote a conversation about diversity on campus. To show support from the Stevens community, and to be able to argue their case, the Diversity and Inclusion Committee is working on getting survey responses from 1,000 students. The deadline for this survey is today, February 15.
Following a controversial marketing campaign from the Office of Student Affairs, many students were upset and annoyed. For Nasir Montalvo, it was a catalyst to fight for more resources on campus for minorities. “A lot of things happened with that, but it stemmed from just being tired of treated as a token minority on this campus with no resources in return,” commented Montalvo. He began the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, of which he is now the chair, hosted a public forum at which the idea of an intercultural center was born. From there, the work began. A 145-person GroupMe formed and the campaign began.
Members of the committee Kesha Shah, Adrian Castellanos, and Amir Mustafa worked with Montalvo to gain support. Mustafa and Castellanos started an Instagram account and assisted Shah and Montalvo. Shah created the Intercultural Center Toolkit and spread it through presentations to various departments on campus. Through continuous campaigns on social media, different organizations’ Slack workspaces and GroupMe chats, and presentations, as well as support from non-senator students, the committee is 114 survey responses short of the goal of 1,000 as of the time of writing.
The committee has received support from all over the community. Montalvo first approached Sara Klein, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs, in late fall of 2018, looking for guidance. “I am always happy to support viable student-led initiatives; I love to see students taking the lead and asking for what they need and want on campus,” remarked Klein. The Office of Student Life has allowed the involved students to sit at the Involvement Fair, Midnight Breakfast, and a host of other events to solicit responses from their peers to spread the word, but the committee itself is responsible for surveying students and using the data, since it is an SGA Proclamation.
The Athletics department also showed strong ally-ship and support for both the center and minority students. According to Montalvo, Athletic Director Russell Rogers and Associate Athletic Director Megan Haughey showed genuine care and support. With the support of Klein, the Athletics department, and other faculty and staff, the committee continued to spread the word.
The previous SGA cabinet, namely Lucas Gallo, Marianna Fleming, and Rami Kammourh assisted with the formation of the committee. The new cabinet shows support for the plans of the committee, but a partnership is still being developed.
There has been talk among senators that it looks like the committee will separate from the SGA due to the fact that a lot of the work has come from non-SGA members; however, Montalvo says that the goal of the committee is to be a voice for the student body, and the best way to do that is to recruit non-senators. Montalvo also expressed that, despite the support, some senators claim to be involved with the committee to benefit themselves in some way even though they are not even in the GroupMe or Slack. For Montalvo, these actions only motivate the work of the committee: “This is why I have created our own marketing campaign, just because erasure (especially of minorities) does not sit well with me.”
According to Montalvo, 94% of survey responses show a support for the center, and survey respondents who don’t support it say that it is because there is no room on campus for such an intercultural center or because they have not seen discriminatory actions on campus. To that, the committee has two responses. The committee is hoping for space in the new University Center; the idea is not to take away any existing space. As far as discriminatory actions, they are only visible to those of the targeted groups. Therefore, it is very easy to not be faced with those actions if you do not identify with a minority.
With the committee still being a little over 100 responses short of their goal as of writing (a day before the deadline of Friday, February 15), the question of “What is next?” arises. Whether or not it meets the goal, the committee will continue with plans to bring the survey results to President Farvardin and his cabinet. The hope is that the results will show the need for and support of an intercultural center, which would help the committee’s argument for space in the University Center.
Whether or not the committee is able to win support for the center, the plan is to continue to educate the Stevens community on diversity and inclusion and foster ally-ship. That being said, Montalvo is optimistic that the data from 1/3 of the undergraduate student body, scaled to 1,000 students, will illustrate the necessity of such a resource. Staff, faculty, alumni, and graduate students also have the ability to fill out the survey. Montalvo did not specify what percentage of responses were solely from undergraduate students.
Currently, there are not a lot of resources for marginalized students. The only resources appear to be the Lore-El Center and Safe-Zone Training. Stevens Technical Enrichment Program (STEP) has turned into a place of support for minorities, which was not its original purpose. “It is already so hard to penetrate a professional career in general being marginalized, and so I think Stevens has a duty to help students find success within the STEM field,” advocated Montalvo for more minority resources.
To fill out the survey, you can go to goo.gl/JbMrwS or go to the Diversity and Inclusion Committee’s Instagram page: @dnistevens, before the end of the February 15 deadline.
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