MulticultYOURism

By Michelle Jurkiewicz, Spring 2011

Every Spring the Student Government Association sponsors Multicultural Week to raise awareness about cultural diversity in an attempt to encourage students, faculty, and staff to seek out further multicultural training and experiences both inside and outside of the classroom. Last year's event focused on cultures with the highest number of refugees in the San Francisco Bay Area. Food from six of those cultures was provided. This year the emphasis will be on globalism.

As one of the planners for the event last year, I became concerned when I overheard a conversation in which students were suggesting that Multicultural Week is trivial or even offensive. I set out to investigate. I asked multiple students about their thoughts before I was able to find any who even knew about Multicultural Week.

Edit Hansen, a third year PsyD Student, explained that she wished that Multicultural Week worked to develop more of a sense of community among students. She suggested that students be more involved in bringing foods and various aspects of their own culture to share with each other. A few other students pointed out that it is always the same people attending workshops about multicultural issues, and that the workshops are not reaching the people who need the education the most.

It is impossible to address all cultural groups and issues during three days of multicultural awareness, in much the same way it is impossible to address women’s history during the thirty-one days of March. What is possible, is to remind everyone that we live in a multicultural society, and that we have an individual and collective responsibility to continuously learn about others and to learn about ourselves.

Multicultural Week will be held on March 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. Every day will include lunch, dinner, and workshops on a variety of multicultural issues.