Multicultural Resource Center, winter 2020

MRC connects virtually through Culture Chat

This semester, Culture Chats increased opportunities to connect with faculty and staff of color on campus, as well as student organizations. The topics discussed ranged from initial introductions to Binghamton University and developing a foundation for community building, to discussions regarding underrepresented populations in higher education and the significance of diversity, equity and inclusion in areas such as voting, social justice, internships, etc. These conversations served as a safe space for attendees to articulate feelings around campus and national issues; as well as allowed participants to share potential actions to help address concerns and develop cross-campus connections for continued dialogue. The Culture Chat lunch topics included:

September

• Welcome to Binghamton!
• Balancing Act: Time Management Tips
• Latinx in Higher Education

October

• Social Justice: Protests, Response and Action Plans
• Be You!: The Intersections of Bearcat Identity
• Your Vote Counts!

November

• History of Black Solidarity Day
• Build your Network: Internships, Assistantships and More
• Semester Reflection: Preparing for Spring

This semester, the MRC increased the number of Culture Chat lunches from three per semester to three each month (September, October, November) in collaboration with the office of the Vice President of Multicultural Affairs in the Student Association. Culture Chat lunches provided additional engagement for students, faculty and staff of color on campus. The lunches also created an opportunity to nurture supportive mentorships and encourage dialogue pertaining to current topics/issues and how they affect our multicultural community.Culture Chat lunches allow the MRC to meet its assessment objective to provide new programming informed by review of student reporting. Of the 44 registrants, undergraduate students made up the highest percentage of attendees at 45.5%, followed faculty/staff with 38.6% and graduate students with 15.9%.

MRC renews support for TIP

MRC TIP support: The MRC’s Translation and Interpretation Program (TIP) continued to serve the campus and greater Binghamton community with translation and interpretation services this quarter. With the help of MRC TIP interns and volunteers, the program was able to fulfill several external and internal requests to assist individuals with limited English proficiency by:

• serving the campus community virtually with one translation/interpretation request in Mandarin
• TIP interns assisting in the translation of notices on the importance of voting that were distributed on the MRC social media accounts
• preparing to sign contracts with two local school districts and reviewing the process of updating contracts with three other local school districts
• seeking several TIP interns for the spring 2021 semester who will assist with translation requests in Mandarin and Spanish, and helping to recruit new TIP volunteers

Fulfilling these services and updating contracts with the local school districts will allow MRC TIP to meet our assessment goals, which include providing translation/interpretation services to the campus community and also to the greater Binghamton community.

MRC signature events and initiatives

In spite of the center being closed in the fall semester due to COVID-19, the Multicultural Resource Center was still able to host a series of signature events that engaged students in thought provoking content and also addressed some of the current events and challenges of today. The MRC hosted a number of successful special events and programmatic and workshop collaborations to serve the campus community, a few of which included:

The Speech and Safety Debate

The First Amendment, free speech, and campus and local community safety have been very hot topics in the collegiate environment over the last few years. In response to campus protests that occurred during the 2019-2020 academic year, ongoing student interactions with campus police and student input, the MRC, the Binghamton Speech and Debate Team, Binghamton University Scholars Program, Center for Civic Engagement, Graduate Student Organization VPMA and Student Association VPMA hosted “Speech and Safety: A Roundtable Debate on Fostering Free Speech in the Campus Community.” The debate, moderated by Joe Schatz, speech and debate coach, included five students from across the political and ideological spectrum who shared their perspectives on what a campus looks like where students feel safe to speak and suggested strategies to accomplish such an environment. While virtual events began to see low attendance, the debate had over 90 students, faculty, staff and alumni in attendance and many of the attendees shared positive reviews of the format, content covered, and ability to create a positive space where unique and contentious perspectives could be shared.

The student debaters

• Logan Blakeslee, a junior majoring in history. He is also the SA Congress Representative for OC3 and the vice president of College Republicans.
• Spencer Hayes, a Binghamton alumnus currently pursuing a master’s degree in Accounting. He had an active role in the College Republicans and Binghamton Review, and has written for many on campus newspaper publications.
• Allison Underhill, a Binghamton Scholars student who is a sophomore majoring in human development and Spanish. She is an intern with the Community Schools program in Binghamton and has been active with the Binghamton Soup Kitchen and the Outdoors Club.
• Danielle Wilhelm, a junior majoring in biochemistry, who is active in the Chemistry Club and the Black Student Union.
• Tyra Wilson, a junior majoring in rhetoric and in global culture with a Spanish minor. She is on the volleyball team, the historian of Student-Athletes of Color for Success (SACS), a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and on the Center for Civic Engagement Voter Engagement Advisory Committee.

2020 voter engagement and election processing

To help engage students in the 2020 election cycle, the MRC hosted and supported a number of initiatives that included:

• Associate Director Tanyah Barnes and the MRC marketing team created special social media and newsletter content encouraging students to get registered, informed and vote.
• Assistant Director Richie Sebuharara hosted Culture Chat: Your Vote Counts with the Student Association Vice President of Multicultural Affairs Office (VPMA) that engaged students and staff in a conversation on the 2020 election.
• Associate Director Tanyah Barnes assisted in organizing two post-election events with representatives from the Student Association, Center for Civic Engagement, UDiversity Educational Institute, and the Binghamton University Chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Juvenile Urban Multicultural Program. The events, “Election Processing Space” and “What Now? How to Hold Elected Officials Accountable,” helped students to process the election outcome as well as learn helpful information on the importance of remaining engaged in the political process after the election cycle.
• Assistant Director Richie Sebuharara served as a representative on the Voter Engagement Advisory Committee with the Center for Civic Engagement.

Virtual “In The Lounge” programming

The MRC student managers hosted four virtual “In The Lounge” events during this quarter to observe LatinX heritage month, to discuss the end of semester de-stress events and to sponsor celebratory activities.

• The Graduates Watch Party: Student managers Jeffrey Wong and Sahomi Cuba hosted The Graduates Watch Party Oct. 9, to observe the Latinx Heritage Month, showing the documentary The Graduates, a 2013 film based on the journey of Latinx students in pursuit of education. The watch party was followed by a short discussion session and a Kahoot virtual game where the participants reflected upon the issues related to the Latinx community as shown in the film.
• Silence Hides Violence: October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, so student managers Lillian Carr, Nicolle Tenezaca and Muskaandeep Kaur hosted Silence Hides Violence, a virtual discussion on domestic violence in collaboration with MALIK Fraternity Inc., the African Student Organization and Omega Phi Beta Sorority Inc. The event, held Oct. 22, included a Kahoot game followed by a visual presentation on domestic violence and the importance of awareness to stop such violence.
• October Stand-Up Comedy Show: To celebrate individuals with birthdays in October and observe LGBTQ+ History Month, MRC cultural programming intern Elizabeth Wagner planned and executed the October Stand-up Comedy Show in collaboration with Bing Stand-Up, a comedy-based student organization on campus. The event featured information on the history of the LGBTQ+ community alongside a comedy set from Grace Scouten, a representative of Bing Stand-Up. Attendees were also entered for chances to win free giveaways.
• The Mind, Explained Watch Party: As students moved through midterms and geared up for the final exam period, MRC student managers Angela Chen and Kassandra Moran hosted The Mind, Explained Watch Party Nov. 9 as a de-stress event. The event featured a showing of the Netflix movie The Mind, Explained, which discussed the impact of meditation on mind and body, followed by a Kahoot game that included tips on managing stress and relaxation.
• Holiday Bingo: To wrap up the semester and kick off the holiday season, student managers Sophia Wen and Ava Drehr hosted Holiday Bingo in collaboration with Asian Outlook and the Hillel Jewish Student Union Dec. 1. The event, with 35 students in attendance, provided an opportunity for students to casually socialize and play a few rounds of Bingo.

MRC workshops and collaborations

During this quarter, the MRC received eight collaboration requests and approved and completed five of them. Two others were approved and are still being collaborated on, and one was approved but canceled due to COVID-19. The MRC worked with Dickinson College Council and Newing College Council in Residential Life to develop programs on the disparities COVID-19 has highlighted in historically underrepresented communities and local participation in the Black Lives Matter movement, respectively. The MRC also worked with the CIW/Dickinson Residential Life professional staff in a discussion around individuality and intersectionality that can exist in a Residential Life role. This quarter, the MRC continued partnerships with the School of Management through the Master of Data Analytics (MS) informational sessions. The MRC also worked with the Undergraduate Chemical Society for its “Diversity in Chemistry” program that featured guest speaker Benny Chan, professor of chemistry at The College of New Jersey, which highlighted diversity in STEM and discussed the experience of current Binghamton students of color who are in STEM fields.

At the request of the Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity, the graduate assistant for educational development led a workshop in self-reflection for the membership. The workshop challenged the fraternity to discuss its organizational mission in regard to diversity currently, and to discuss what steps the fraternity should take in the future to diversify its membership and its programs. The men of this chapter were especially engaged and the organization has done significant work to improve the chapter’s policies and procedures around these topics, most notably in setting up a committee to address gender-related concerns around the chapter’s membership as well as more meaningful standards to prevent gender-based issues.