Eastern Oregon University’s Multicultural Center is a safe haven and resource hub for international students, students of color, and other under-served student populations.
The Multicultural Center offers a lounge and computer lab where students can hang out, receive support services, study, and hold group sessions, club meetings, and workshops. There are affinity programs and clubs for Pacific Islander, Native American, Latino, Black, Undocumented, LGBTQ+, and International students.
The Multicultural Center also offers training, workshops, conferences, events, scholarships, and a mentorship program.
Bryce Towai, who has worked at the center for three years, says that he likes helping students, especially international ones, adjust to a new environment and feel more comfortable and informed about available resources.
Towai especially enjoys relating to multicultural students to help them feel more welcome and less like an outcast. He says that “it’s pretty intimidating coming here and the majority of people are different from us,” but the Multicultural Center helps by giving them a safe space to hang out and work together. Unfortunately, he says that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a decrease in the visibility and engagement of the Multicultural Center.
Towai would like to work toward hosting and promoting more events, but says that the center needs an increase in student involvement to do so. He believes that before COVID-19 there were more people, more international students, more club activities, and more diversity.
In previous years, the Multicultural Center was promoted through the EOU Instagram, flyers around campus, and bulletin boards in different buildings that highlighted the multicultural students, groups, and events. The center received assistance from students and staff to promote their existence but Towai says that this just isn’t happening anymore.
The Multicultural Center is a vital resource for the success of multicultural and diverse students, but it needs the help of the entire campus community to thrive. Attend an event, tell your friends about it, and help spread the word.
The Multicultural Center is open from 8 a.m.- 6 p.m. Monday-Friday in the Hoke Union Building, room 216.
