The Multicultural Life and Diversity Office is promoting an End of Year Barbecue next Sunday, May 4at the Sugget Park Burch Building, at 12pm. The event is open to everyone and will have live music, food and other activities.
AnnaMaria Omilanowicz, the Director of the Multicultural Life and Diversity Office at SUNY Cortland, said that the event is a way of promoting a fun time and bring awareness to the multicultural and diversity topic and representation on campus to all students and Cortland community.
The Multicultural Life and Diversity Office has the goal of promoting a greater understanding of multicultural diversity on campus and in society, and of advocating for racial justice. It gives voice to minority groups and promotes the chance for students to educate themselves and advocate for more inclusive spaces.
According to Omilanowicz, it’s important to have an office on campus that represents minority social groups because this fight and commotion shouldn’t be only represented by students on campus, but also by the school, showing their support and commitment to the cause.
I remember when I was in college and all the Hispanic heretic programming, all the Black History Month program, it was all made by the students, and I just felt like the campus didn’t have a commitment to it,” said Omilanowicz. “I love that we have offices like ours on campus, that promotes inclusion and help support students, because it shouldn’t be just their job. We should, as faculty and staff, make an effort to know and help students feel like they belong on campus.”
Being involved and aware of other people’s realities, cultures and differences is important to bring justice and fairness to all. Omilanowicz, however, explained that although the Multicultural Life and Diversity Office is there to help bring that awareness to students, sometimes is hard to reach them out because regardless of how many events they promote, student involvement depends on their own interest in the topic.
“It’s really hard to pass any information to them if they are not aware of the existence of the office or interest in the subject,” said Omilanowicz. “One thing that is helpful is that core 101 classes have the option of inviting us to talk to students, and since most freshmen have to take 101 classses, we have that opportunity to reach out to them and spread awareness. But at the end of the day, it’s up to them.”
Omilanowicz also added that some people shy away from the topic, especially now, considering the current social and political scenario we are in.
“It’s difficult right now with everything going on,” said Omilanowicz. “But those who are willing to continue to educate themselves and advocate for inclusive spaces, should, because it does make a huge difference in students experiences at Cortland, whether you identify as a person who has historically underrepresented identity or doesn’t. The more you learn, the better global citizen you are.”
The Multicultural Life and Diversity Office organizes different events every semester. They promote opportunities for students to work as interns in service-learning projects, they have workshops promoting rethinking abilities, overlooking health disparities and under resource communities, and work with different organizations within campus to offer a safer and more inclusive space for all.
They currently oversee 12 different organizations in the voice office on campus, offering support and helping them maintain the space they need.