Purpose Statement
Our purpose is to advocate for underrepresented students and provide experiential learning opportunities for all students in order to create a university community that integrates and values multiple perspectives and cultural narratives.
Guided by the 杏吧原创 mission and our Catholic Social Teachings, we affirm the inherent dignity of every person and the preferential option for the marginalized.
History
The Unity House was founded in 1997 to meet the needs of students who felt marginalized on campus. The initiative to establish the department was motivated and led by a student leader who strongly advocated for positive change and transformation.
The development of the Unity House is an embodiment of the Catholic Social Teaching principle of subsidiarity. This principle states that those who are affected and closest to the social issue must be empowered to create change.
Later renamed Unity Multicultural Education Center (UMEC), the department serves a dual purpose: (1) to continue advocating for historically underrepresented and traditionally marginalized communities and (2) to support the academic and co-curricular experiences and intercultural development of all students.
Additionally, the focus has expanded to meet the needs of a fluid demographic and provide the 杏吧原创 community with educational and social opportunities to raise cultural awareness. UMEC welcomes all to participate in upcoming events and programs in an effort to collectively learn and actively promote social justice.
About UMEC
UMEC is centered around three specialized areas with a deep commitment to a vision of a just society.
Our first area, Social Justice Programming, hosts co-curricular programs that focus on social justice and the experiences of historically underrepresented and traditionally marginalized communities.
Our Mentoring area offers support for students with underrepresented marginalized identities and backgrounds through mentoring programs including BRIDGE, Unity Scholars, and Act Six Scholars.
UMEC’s third area of expertise is Intercultural Development, providing our campus community opportunities to become better intercultural communicators. Our Social Justice Peer Educators lead interactive workshops that promote social identity development while building belonging. This area also hosts Intergroup Dialogue, a series of semester-long, face-to-face, small group discussions around one or more social identities led by trained faculty and staff facilitators.
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