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BY YINGJIA WANG

In print | March 20, 2008

Designed to increase campus awareness of the student group and the issues it represents, MULTi week (hosted by MULTi) plans to bring multicultural issues into the greater campus consciousness. The weeklong schedule of activities includes a gallery opening in Shane Lounge, a ring discussion and a lecture.

MULTi Week began with the MULTiFACEted Gallery Opening, which occurred on Monday, March 17 in the Shane Lounge. Given the tagline “Find pictures of yourself or your friends and how they approached the question ‘what are you?’”, the event unveiled photos of Swarthmore students accompanied by words or phrases that they felt described themselves.

Yesterday the week continued with a ring discussion entitled “Trapped in a Box” during which students debated their ethnic and cultural origins.

Thursday features the lecture “America Beyond Black and White” by Dr. Ronald Fernandez, a Professor of Sociology at Central Connecticut State University. “Not Just Fetishes and Race Traitors: Challenging the Ways We View Interracial Relationships”, a workshop led by Carmen Van Kerckhove of New Demographic, will be held on Friday and is co-sponsored by SAO. Friday also wraps up with a party held in the WRC later that evening.

The entire week then concludes with the opening of the McCabe exhibit, “MULTea.”

MULTi Co-President Robert Manduca ’10 cites the lecture as the event he anticipates the most. “Dr. Ronald Fernandez will be talking about the way race is viewed in the United States. Right now, there is a dichotomy between white and non-white … He will also talk about why he feels the recent wave of immigration and the rise of [multicultural] people is going to be helpful,” Manduca said.

MULTi member Joslyn Young ‘10 also showed enthusiasm for the lecture. "I’m really interested in the lecture in part because it speaks to multi issues and because of the black-white dichotomy and because there are so many other races that go unacknowledged. I think it can relate to a lot of different people," Young said.

For both Manduca and Young, this year is the first time they’ve participated in organizing MULTi Week, as the group did not host the week last year.

They pinpoint their desires to raise campus awareness about MULTi and multicultural issues as motivations for MULTi Week.

“Last year we had a slow year, and this year we wanted to do something. We thought that people didn’t really know what MULTi is or what we’re about, and we wanted to tell them this is who we are, this is what we’re doing, this is why we’re cool and this is why you should be interested in this stuff,” Manduca said.

“I feel that every group that has a week or a month or whatever is trying to spread awareness or understanding of that culture or group or whatever they’re doing. I think with [multicultural] people and issues becoming more prevalent in the present, it’s important to bring the issues to campus and say to the campus that it’s something you should and will think about in the future,” Young said.

Similarly, MULTi public relations officer May Maani ‘10 hopes that the week’s events will be a catalyst for thought.

“I’d like people to start questioning any generalizations that they have. It will vary from person to person, but I want them to question their generalizations and stereotypes,” Maani said. “I think the MULTiFACEted display in Shane is one way that we’re doing that. We’re really trying to break down stereotypes. For me, even reading the descriptions that people wrote is interesting. It’s like oh, that’s what you think, and that’s what you are.”

Disclosure note: Robert Manduca is a photo editor for The Phoenix, but had no role in the production of this article.

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