Center would improve diversity

What better way to serve our students than with a Diversity Resource Center? We need to recognize, honor, and value the communities at MHCC. Looking across our campus, we can see that we have a diversity of students and employees, but what about the services on campus to reflect that diversity?

We have a wide range of people from every race, age, orientation, social and economic groups on campus.  In any given class, you will find people who come from very different walks of life, yet find themselves in the same classroom.

The combinations of people that can be found at this school are endless and reflect the world around us. Of all the investments that take place this year, a Diversity Resource Center is not only useful for the future but for the current students to see and feel that they belong.

It is also important to note that Gresham is changing; it is becoming more and more diverse and, in order for MHCC to be able to accommodate the community it serves, it needs to take diversity beyond a concept and institutionalize it into our school.

What better way to do that than with a Diversity Resource Center? It can be a great learning experience for MHCC to go through — thinking of diversity not just once a year but as a beneficial part of our society. It is not just about the amount of melanin in our skin, but rather a collage of struggles, gifts, and life experiences that each person has that makes them completely different from anyone else.

In retrospect, MHCC says we are strategic, yet we don’t capitalize on the diversity at our school.  We are unparalleled, and yet compared to our closest neighbor — Portland Community College, which has a thriving multicultural center — we have nothing.  It’s time to take a step and move mountains as a college. What better way than by serving our students, whatever shape, size, and color they come in.

We have to make a real commitment to diversity and I will be advocating for this throughout my time on office.  I invite the MHCC administration and the campus community to join me in the effort.

Advocate Staff