An Interview for Social Change

Multicultural organizations are not only an involvement opportunity, but also play a crucial role in securing the retention of diverse students.

As a leadership studies minor, I’m required to take courses focused on problem solving, critical thinking and effective communication. This led me to HDF 414, leadership for activism and social change. The course explores issues related to social change, power and privilege, coalition building, non-violence, civic engagement and advocacy. It’s designed to engage students as allies and advocates for marginalized groups. Considering my experience and personal values, I knew I wanted to serve as an ally to minorities, specifically minorities at predominantly white universities.

For my social change project, I decided to create a Multicultural Mentorship Program, which would pair eligible college students with a certified mentor who will work with them to meet their academic, professional, and mental health needs. After conducting some research, I realized that involvement on campus has proven to help college students in a variety of ways, it builds time management skills, can lead to crucial friendships and networking opportunities, and it increases marketability after graduation; this is especially true for diverse students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

A flyer for the Multicultural Mentorship Program I used to promote my social change project

In order to discover the importance of campus involvement, especially for students of color in multicultural organizations, I decided to conduct an interview with George Gallien, the director of URI’s Multicultural Student Services Center. I used the following interview to help prove that campus involvement and retention are directly related:

What does MSSC do to engage students of color at URI?

“Our diversity cafe gets a lot of attention as there’s lots of engagement. We host pizza parties, have open mic night, and it’s truly a hang out spot. We really want to bring everybody together and bring our students’ vision to life.”

What percentage of the diverse population are involved in multicultural organizations?

“I would say the majority of these students. I often ask myself, “what are we not doing to engage our students?” I like to catch our students to make sure they don’t fall through the holes.”

Do you think multicultural organizations increase retention?

“Multicultural Organizations absolutely increase the retention rate of the diverse population of students. It’s a safe space where these students can express their concerns. Our students also partake in leadership training and in fact, I have 6 students attending the NCORE conference this spring.”