MC’s Multicultural Center Offers A Safe Space for Diverse Learning and Community

Manhattan College’s multicultural center sits on the third floor of Kelly Student Commons, welcoming students in with big glass windows as soon as you walk up the stairs.

Here students are able to see people engage with each other with ease, either playing games the center has to offer, watching a movie on the big screen or just simply enjoying the presénteme each of them are able to bring as a student at Manhattan College.

Hayden Greene, the founding director of the multicultural center and also the director of Multicultural Affairs and Student Development at MC, told the Quadrangle where his idea for a multicultural center was based on more than just what is thought of when the word multi-culture is said.

“I started at Manhattan College seven and a half years ago a little bit after Kelly Commons was created.” Greene told the Quadrangle. “I had a blank box to work with, both physically, and metaphorically, because the work of multiculturalism and diversity was already being done in certain ways by different departments who wanted to pitch into that community. And so I was hired to coalesce all of those efforts, and to really pull them together and put it into one program and to base it out of the actual multicultural center. There’s been a lot of changes since the time that I’ve been here. Before I got here, a lot of the diversity work was as we say in the business, food and festivals.”

Greene was able to explain his goals on creating the center by using his prior knowledge of programs offered at this institution and crafting them to a broader group of people here at MC.

“My goal is to establish programs that deepen the conversation around diversity, and really establish a place where inclusivity is the norm as opposed to the exception,” said Greene. “We created an actual physical space that we think is welcoming and indicative of all of the different ways that people see the world and all the different places that people come from and bring here.”

The multicultural center is always adding different collaborative programs on campus to encourage and deepen conversations between members of our community.

“We’ve done a lot of programs that on the surface may not seem like a diversity program, but our philosophy is if we do a program that everybody loves, and we inculcate a lot of diversity issues with it and people are able to look around and notice they come from different backgrounds, then diversity and culture is included in everything we do,” said Greene.

Greene shared with the Quadrangle his favorite activity to host and how it embodies the values of the center.

“My favorite event we host here is always Friday Funday Trivia,” said Greene. “I love trivia and sneakily trivia is a way that we really can pass on information because it’s not about the information you walk in with or getting the answer right, but being able to walk out with all the answers. We work really hard in making sure that the trivia given represents a wide swath of identities and different cultures from different parts of the world.”

The next Friday Funday Trivia will be hosted on May 6 from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the multicultural center where you can expand your palette from a different country you are probably familiar with, while also playing trivia for prizes you can not miss. Greene explained how importantly diverse the food used during trivia is to accurately represent their goals as a center.

“We believe that food is an equalizer throughout the world and there is often a commonality of food that we don’t talk about a lot, possibly because of financials,” said Greene. “No one wants to spend their last $20 on a meal they are unsure they are going to like. Our goal is to bring in as many foods as we possibly can and allow people to try new foods without having to worry about spending their own money. By doing this we can bring in new appreciations for the different types of cultures we have and when you start really recognizing that and telling the stories of food, you realize that there are connections between people and their particular experience with the foods they love. And you realize that if somebody else is making that same food, chances are they’ve had a similar experience.”

When the Quadrangle asked students at the center their favorite activities to see or participate in themselves, both trivia bowl or Tiny Talks, two programs only hosted at the center.

“The more people tell stories, the more they recognize the commonality between each other,” Greene stated regarding his program Tiny Talks. “We’re big about storytelling, and so our tiny talk program happens every other Wednesday, and it’s an opportunity for students, staff, administrators and even outside people to come in and tell their stories, and then have students have a conversation about what they just heard.”

David Sanchez, a freshman civil engineering major has been coming to the center since the beginning of his fall semester and has been going there consistently ever since.

“I originally came to the center with a group of people and then started coming on my own seeing how everyone was treated here with open arms,” Sanchez explained.

Greene told students touring campus on Friday how the multicultural center is considered to many students like a living room in a home where they can just come to be themselves and hangout away from studies.

“I think everyone comes for a specific reason, but one that I feel is common is how coming here gives you the same feeling as coming home and creating that calm space,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez was able to tell the Quadrangle how his relationships with two girls from Egypt who work in the multicultural center have broadened his understanding beyond New York City.

“It’s so fun to be able to speak to them and gain an understanding about how life is over there in comparison to over here,” Sanchez said with excitement.

Vanessa Goncalves is another freshman who entered the center not thinking anything of it, but decided to stay pretty quickly for the people she met.

“A friend of mine one day told me about the center and brought me there, then went right to class,” Goncalves said. “I was just sitting there as a new face, and within a minute of sitting there, having not spoken to anybody immediately, I had people just introducing themselves.”

Goncalves explains that she feels the center is easily welcoming to any person with any preference.

“I bring new people here all the time and I know that if I leave them they’re not just going to sit in silence,” Goncalves reassured. “Everyone’s always going to be open to talk with absolutely no judgment involved. The center has made it so easy, especially as a queer person to just come here and sit and relax as long as I need.”

Stop by the multicultural center on the third floor of Kelly during one of their special events posted on either our MC calendar or their instagram @ mcmulticultural to simply unwind.