WASC Testimonials

Lui Amador

Coordinator, Multicultural Center, CSUDH

I am an immigrant of this country. I came from the Philippines with my family at the age of three. As a person of color who was not born at this country I learned at a early age what social difference felt like. A story I always tell people is that I can remember being 6 and crying in bed wondering why I was in this country, why my parents brought me here when I was feeling like I didn’t fit in. I never forgot that, that moment. It has driven my interest in and some of the things I really committed my life to doing, which is multicultural education and just trying to create and foster environments of mutual respect and inclusively.

WASC Questions:

As director of the Multi Cultural Center, what are your goals?

I think when I first started were about trying to make Multi Cultural Center as visible as possible. Centers like this and I know from researching the Multi Cultural Center’s history prior to when I came was a result of student protesting or a space that met there cultural needs and you see that in other campuses that are often initiated by students. I feel like to extent the existence of the Multi Cultural Center was more to an appeasement in terms of we want to address these needs not necessarily at the forefronts trying to meet the university’s mission. Coming aboard for me was really much trying to understand the social dynamics here on campus, how diversity fit into the mission of the University and what the Multi Cultural Center could do with its resources to meet those goals. Over time we have developed annual programs. Successful programs like the Cross Culture Retreat. This year we just started an internship called Diversity In Action where students get a chance to meet for an entire year and be trained as facilitators of diversity. They will be working with junior high schools and high school youth. We have our ongoing series called the Diversity Chat and its open to the public and they get to talk about meaningful issues for themselves. This past year we talked about homophobia and the gay and lesbian community on campus we asked, "Does diversity matter to people?" The University has a rich and diverse campus, but when we asked students a lot didn’t know how to respond. They haven’t taken a conscious look at how diversity may benefit them or being in a diverse setting. As being a member of the WASC Subcommittee what we have learned students don’t come here with diversity being a driving factor to being here. We want to utilize and capitalize on diversity. So those students feel like that they are benefiting from that type of setting. So we have created these types of settings. What I would like to see would be the Multi Cultural Center align its goals with the University’s Mission to supplement people's education and create more awareness about the world they live in which is a very multicultural world. We would like to continue to create partnerships with the academic side so we are reinventing the wheel or not stepping on people’s toes, but rather doing more collaborations with people. We have been doing that. Create more viability for the Center. Create a situation for the students so they recognize that the Multi Cultural Cente is there for them. That it has something to offer more than just a program here and there, but really a place that is safe for them, a place they can socialize in, but also a place they can learn and supplement their education that is in the classroom.

How does the center foster positive learning experiences in the diverse campus environment?

I have mentioned some of the events that we have put on, but we also have our Thursday Programmatic Series called Cup of Culture. We bring different performances, speakers, writers, poets, artist on to campus for a program that will engage the student. It is an opportunity for them to socialize, but also to learn and become more aware of other cultures.

In your observation, in what ways do students benefit from participation in the Cross Cultural Retreats?

One of the things we can see even in an anecdotal level, students get a chance to meet people and become friends with people that they normally wouldn’t take the opportunity do to in any other type of setting. We see friendships being formed across races, genders, and cultures. It’s because they are given this unique opportunity to step out of there comfort zone and be in this isolated setting. In a safe environment and be truthful about what there experience is in this multicultural community. When you add all that up and you can create this environment even if its only for a weekend. It can be intense for people, but it can also foster a lot of compassion and empathy and a greater sense of respect. One of the things I really love is the Monday after the Cross Cultural Retreat you have all the participants seeking each other out. These are student across the spectrum from our student population. Hugging each other and greeting each other like they haven’t seen each other for weeks. To this day we still get students that come in from 3-5 years ago saying look we are hanging out together, we are still the best of friends. So friendships are formed, but what is more important that is happening is these students are taking what they are learning and continuing to foster that type of feeling and sentiment with the other people they are interacting with on campus. Even thought we don’t get to bring everybody, we do feel like the experience is carried forward and it is brought back on to campus. The Cross Cultural Retreat is seen as so positive by the staff, administration, and by the academic side; I feel we really need to continue to offer this and encourage more people to participate in this.

How does the presence of the Multicultural Center make students aware and comfortable in discussing and exploring issues of diversity?

I don’t know if I can answer completely honestly that it does. I think that diversity is a difficult thing. I feel that the Multi Cultural Center offers opportunity for people to engage in it or not. They can come to our programs, but we can’t force them. But I do think that those who have taken an opportunity to explore different issues on campus and from around the world, they have benefited greatly from it. A lot of ways I think its up to the student and that’s not to say that the Multi Cultural Center does not aggressively and actively try to promote and recruit students to participate in its program, but I feel like we have to be careful not to assume too much that one particular area can do everything, and the only reason I say that is that we as a campus (students, faculty, staff and administration), have to take a collective and a collaborative role in trying to embrace and celebrate what diversity means to this campus.

Anything you want to add?

I have been 6 years now and I can honestly say that I have seen changes happen on this campus. Feelings have changed and the way students approach one another has changed and I feel that a lot of it has been the result of them choosing to engage proactively in learning more about social difference. That is not going to just benefit our campus community, but also those students when they leave this environment and try to pursue their future endeavors whereever it leads them. What we are learning is that no matter what there major is, they are going to need to be more willing to engage and be more competent in cross cultural communication and understanding how culture difference can impact team work, office setting, and just even productivity. Even on a bare bones approach to diversity when you’re thinking about, how does this benefit the bottom line for an individual? I think that you can start to see that it really does.

- Donna Cruz