Multicultural Student Center welcomes conversation

Conversations about the weather are easy. Conversations about race and diversity often aren’t.

UW-Madison, like many communities, is grappling with how to promote such a dialogue in the wake of events in Ferguson, Staten Island and elsewhere. And the Multicultural Student Center offers a safe place to have those complicated conversations, says director Joshua Moon Johnson.

“I assume most people on campus want this to be a welcoming place, but a lot of people don’t have the knowledge and skills to do that,” Johnson says. “Our role is to help provide that knowledge and skills.”

The center, a unit of the Division of Student Life located on the second floor of the Red Gym, was founded in 1988 with the mission of creating programs to enhance the academic achievements of students of color and develop activities that promote cultural diversity.

Today, its goal is: “To collaboratively strengthen and sustain an inclusive campus where all students, particularly students of color and other historically underserved students, are engaged and can realize an authentic Wisconsin Experience.”

Its core mission remains the same, although it has moved toward including issues of social justice, offering numerous workshops on organizing, transformative leadership and related topics.

The center’s events include a screening of the movie “Dear White People” at 3 p.m. Feb. 1 in the Marquee Theater at Union South. Written and directed by Justin Simien, the film focuses on African-American students attending an Ivy League college in America. A question-and-answer session will follow.

The center has seven staff members. Johnson started his role in August, coming from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“After I came for the interview, I was really excited,” Johnson says. “This is an institution that not only says it cares about students but actually does.”

Of course, there are challenges.

One of them, Johnson says, is reaching people on such a large, decentralized campus. During his first semester here, he made an effort to meet as many people as possible, letting them know about the center and its resources.

That means promoting events as well as letting faculty and staff know that they can also reach out to the center.

He also wants students of all backgrounds to feel comfortable coming to the center.

College is often the time when students ask themselves, “Who am I?” Johnson says. “Race becomes a big question of understanding who they are … We have programs that nurture and give the ability to ask the question and explore answers in a safe place.”

He says they take a holistic approach to working with students. If someone is struggling academically, chances are that student is also struggling elsewhere in life.

“We want to help students succeed both inside and outside of the classroom,” Johnson says. “If they don’t feel connected and supported, it’s hard to be successful. This is a place where they can feel included — where they belong.”

Johnson says that while he’s optimistic about the direction the campus is heading, confronting these issues can be exhausting.

“Sometimes you think, ‘We’re having this conversation again? It’s 2015.’”

But then he hears from a student who says he almost withdrew from the university but didn’t, or another who says the center helped her graduate.

“There are always stories that come to light that show the effort and frustration was not for nothing,” Johnson says.