The goal of the Multicultural Center’s dinners and events is to create a sense of belonging for students to increase their institutional connectedness, which has been identified as one of the most important predictors of student persistence.
MC’s cultural dinners and events focus on four key areas:
- Celebration - celebrating, recognizing and honoring the accomplishments and contributions of marginalized populations
- Awareness - providing opportunities for marginalized communities to gain a deeper understanding of the communities in which they belong as well as opportunities to explore and learn about other communities
- Intersectionality - how systems of power impact those who are most marginalized in society. Programs also emphasize the ways in which students’ varying identities influence their understanding of themselves and others.
- U.S. Discourse ;- the ways in which the history of the United States presents a dominate narrative while negating the experiences and histories of marginalized communities