After about a year where the Multicultural Center (MCC) on campus lacked a director, the position has been filled again by Rore Yanzon.
As director of the MCC, at only age 28, they are now in charge of managing student staff within the center, programming, and collaborations with other departments, with the goal of centering the experiences of historically marginalized communities. Initially joining the staff in January 2025, Yanzon said that the new school year has led to a lot less “inheriting” with the staff and programming structure of the MCC.
“I feel like I actually get to do a lot more things this year, and I think a big part is, starting in the fall semester, we get to really rebuild and redefine the cultures within the different spaces that we have,” said Yanzon.
Some of this has come in the form of restructuring programs such as First to FINish, which is focused on building community for upperclassmen students who are first generation. This restructuring consists of putting more thought and focus into what the programming itself consists of after years of little activity.
A new addition to the MCC has been holding regular events in the space, including MCC Chats, LGBTQIA+ Healing Circles and First Gen Fridays. These recurring events focus on workshops/discussions on identity.
“The intention for the space is to have consistent community building with each community,” said Yanzon when talking about the different events.
Working alongside Yanzon is Castel Green, a graduate student in the MCC, assisting in programming. Green can often be found in the university’s LGBTQIA+ Lounge.
Their work also consists of researching the history of the MCC. Green hopes to begin grant writing for resources such as a community library and distributing funds to students for gender affirming haircuts.
“[Yanzon] is also very open to me doing passion projects at the MCC,” said Green.
Green also supervises the three new student staff members who have been given the roles of community coordinators. This student position includes assisting in managing events, creating promotional materials, approving the space for reservation by other organizations and welcoming all who enter.
Estrella Barcenas, a sophomore majoring in social work, has recently begun her time in the position with the hope of being more involved within the community after she spent her freshman year not attending events and feeling isolated.
“I wanted to be a friendly face on campus for somebody to recognize,” said Barcenas.
Though she said student engagement has been an issue, she’s still been able to foster relationships with those who enter the MCC, happily greeting them. A surprise that has come with Barcenas’ role has been realizing that even commuter students have in-depth thoughts about campus climate, even if they’re not directly involved. One of these students is Rahma Khwaja, a commuter who’s been utilizing the MCC for years.
Khwaja, a senior majoring in creative writing, values the role of the community coordinators. She said she appreciates that they’re student staff and are “just your peers,” while previous iterations of the role made students feel “watched.”
Having used the MCC prior to Yanzon’s time as director, Khwaja said she’s noticed more events, students in the space and respect being displayed between peers.
“It’s kind of just everything in one room,” said Khwaja.
