Maine Perspective Front Page
ALANA Student Center Part of Effort to Strengthen, Support Diversity on Campus
An ALANA (African-American, Latino/a, Asian and Native American) student center has been designated in the north end of Hannibal Hamlin Hall as part of UMaine President Peter Hoff's commitment to supporting and strengthening diversity on campus. The center is expected to serve as a catalyst for change and as a focal point for minority student activities that affect the University community.
"Consciousness was raised that the campus community was ready for other initiatives outside of ongoing discussions and training about multiculturalism and diversity," says Sean Frazier, assistant director of athletics. "The University community needs tangibles like an ALANA student center and a Black Studies program.
"The President has a vision for meaningful initiatives (that will affect) our recruitment and retention issues in and out of state," says Frazier.
This fall, 710 out of UMaine's 9,126 students are international students or self-declared members of federally recognized minority groups. BearWorks, UMaine's action plan, has as one of its priorities to "make measurable and significant progress toward diversifying the faculty, staff, administration and student body, and broadening the curriculum and reflecting increased diversity."
"Diversity falls short as a goal if it does not bring us together as a society," says Hoff in BearWorks. "The UMaine campus needs to exemplify a collegial and harmonious community. This will happen only through a concerted effort that goes beyond the effort to bring diversity to the community."
Such a concerted effort is key to the ALANA student center. The foundation of the center, including a mission statement and goals, will be established by ALANA student representatives, who have been meeting monthly with the President since last winter. The formative year ahead will involve a variety of activities, including exploring ways to furnish and fund the facility, and plan programming.
"We've fought hard to get to where we are. Now we have to devise a plan," says Vesnier Lugo, a fifth-year health/fitness major from the Bronx who co-chairs the Student Heritage Alliance Center (SHAC) and is a member of Los Colores Unidos. Those multicultural student groups hoping to find a home in Hannibal Hamlin will meet and make decisions about what plans they have individually and collectively, he says. The hope is that the center will be the site of a variety of offerings - from educational programs and lectures to cultural films and a resource library.
"The center represents growth and will be a campus resource," says Mary Lawler, a senior from Lewiston majoring in marketing and treasurer of SHAC. "If we look back a year ago, we never thought we would have come as far as we have. Hopefully this is just the beginning of what will be more change."
Anita Wihry, executive director of institutional and facilities planning, describes the center as "a work in progress - the beginning of a long-term plan." Identifying a location for such a center was a first step in responding to the President's priority to support an increasingly diverse population in the University community, she says.
The space now designated for the center was most recently the location of the Faculty Club, which has been temporarily relocated to Colvin Hall.
"The center has to do with noticeability and being out there in the public," says Wesley Petteway, a senior majoring in finance and management from Brooklyn who is president of the Black Student Union.
"While we've done a lot in the community, there still are people who don't know our name or think we are just a minority group doing things for ourselves. We want all to know that while we're trying to put multicultural values and ideas and events forward, they are for the whole University to bring everyone together," he says. "We want to be both teachers and students through this ALANA center. We want it to be a place where students from different cultures can learn about others and leave something of their own behind."
The center will provide an opportunity for minority groups "to come together to dialogue about similar issues that affect all of us," says Frazier. "This should be a place to pursue a shared agenda of issues that arise on a predominately white campus. We are not in a fishbowl but in a place for education, identity, understanding, mentorship and transition. Those are the many roles this center can serve. All should view this as an excellent way to support our students of color. Until there is a critical mass of students, faculty and staff reflecting ethnic and racial diversity on this campus, the center is a beacon of hope.
"It's also important for people to know that creation of this center is not special preference or affirmative action for minority students. Rather, it is a way to bring people together on common ground to promote ideas of difference. We are in a very homogeneous state and we have to do things to promote racial and ethnic diversity. Diversity can't be treated as an add-on because it was left off to begin with; multicultural and diversity initiatives must be institutionalized as equally important. People need to step out of their comfort zones and realize why these initiatives should happen at an institution of higher learning like this flagship campus."
The center grew out of the SHAC, a student organization established in 1996 to support ethnic diversity on campus by providing students of all cultures and backgrounds a place where a sense of community is shared. Since its inception, SHAC has been headquartered on the lower level of Cumberland Hall. In coming weeks, SHAC, along with the Black Student Union and Los Colores Unidos, will be the first of the student organizations to take up residence in Hannibal Hamlin Hall.
"SHAC was created in response to a need to unite minority students on campus," says Frazier. "Now the ALANA student center is taking those efforts to another level, with expanded programs, more visibility and leadership reflecting even more diversity. It will be a spot on campus where there will be a free-flowing exchange of ideas. The center will become an ambassador for multiculturalism on campus.
"It is so good to see the institution step up and create a student center that is an official statement of respect for - affirmation and recognition of - people's differences. It will help in recruiting and retaining students. Everyone needs a place where they feel safe and comfortable. At the center, you can come and be who you are, and be accepted as such."
For some students, the center will be like a home away from home, says Shontay Delalue, a third-year student from Roselle, N.J., and co-chair of SHAC. "In my first year, I was welcomed to campus through SHAC. Now it is exciting to see the center on campus before I graduate as a place for us and for everybody."
The Native American Club is looking forward to helping this building take form, says Sharon Paul of Old Town, a senior majoring in education. "I have only been involved with this group recently and I have only attended one meeting, but I feel that for this to take place on campus is a step in the right direction. I just hope that continuation of the ALANA center keeps moving forward after we all graduate. My dreams have always been that we all would be treated equally."
The Center will help build a community on campus that has been all but absent in years past, says Lugo. "When I first got here, we had no support anywhere on campus. We felt alone. That's why most people I came in with are not here. Since then, with the Multicultural Student Affairs staff and now the center, we can tell there is increased awareness of multicultural students on this campus.
"The center will help us embrace our own culture," Lugo says. "For people participating in the activities and educational programs, some of the barriers, stereotypes and lack of knowledge will subside. People need a willingness to learn and to accept differences. We don't need to see eye to eye, but we need to be willing to accept differences. that's what I look for in terms of community support.
"People need to realize that the world is a colorful place."