A brief history of the Amherst College Multicultural Resource Center
Written by Julia Pfatteicher '19
Formation
In 2005, Amherst College President Anthony Marx created a new position, the Special Projects Fellow, which would allow for the creation of policies and initiatives for increasing enrollment and retention of students from low-income backgrounds. Raquel Cardona, Class of 2005E, was hired to fill the position and create effective support systems for low-income students on our campus.
With Cardona as the Fellow in 2006, she proposed the Affinity Group Resource Center, which was later renamed the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC). The goals of the Affinity Group Resource Center were to provide substantial support for minorities and increase the efficacy of cultural programming at Amherst College.
In December of 2007, Raquel Cardona, as Student Affairs Officer for Diversity and Academics in the Dean of Students Office, began contacting Affinity Groups on campus about the concept of the Affinity Group Resource Center with hopes of opening a center located in the Octagon in the spring of 2008.
At the start of 2008, a committee of students, alumni and administrators met to plan the creation of the Multicultural Resource Center. They became known as the Multicultural Center Committee (MCC). As issues of cultural incompetency and intolerance augmented, an event called “Raising Our Voices” took place. The Cole Assembly Room (Red Room) of Converse Hall overflew with passionate students discussing the ways in which inclusion was failing at Amherst College, and proposing visions for how it should be. This event became increasingly clear that the campus needed to reinvent its concepts of acceptance and cultural awareness.
In February of 2008, a proposal was made for the MRC to move from the Octagon a more central location in the MRC Keefe Campus Center. This proposal sparked much debate. Members of the Multicultural Center Committee advocated for having a space in the campus center would allow for the MRC to be more accessible and have a stronger presence on campus.
However, this proposal countered by another issued from The Association of Amherst Students (AAS). The MRC’s move to Keefe campus center would mean the AAS would be required to give up their space for a smaller office. According to Cardona, many members of the AAS questioned why the MRC could not take smaller space available, but members of MCC insisted that the alternative office would be too small for the needs of the Center. A few days after the AAS issued its proposal, students gathered once again in support the Multicultural Resource Center.
In March of 2008, the Campus Center granted a space in its basement to the MRC with a collaboration contract. This collaboration contract detailed the proposal of the Multicultural Center Committee to AAS and the AAS’s response. Ultimately the AAS granted the MRC the ability to use their office, 006 Keefe Campus Center, temporarily, as a starting off point for the Center. The contract was a cooperative effort, outlining the needs of both the MRC and AAS, and it created a successful way for both parties to have the resources they required.
In April of 2008, the MRC held an Open House for students, faculty, and staff to learn about the new Resource Center on campus. In September the MRC was officially up and running. It held its grand opening on September 15, 2008.
More Coming Soon...
Please keep coming back for updates and additional details on the history of the MRC.