The Office of Multicultural Affairs is hosting a regularly scheduled free lunch to its organizations after chapel Monday.
OMA is the organization that handles the gatherings and events of all of the multicultural people groups on campus. In order to keep with their mission statement, “to support the educational understanding of all cultures on campus,” they host a lunch or meet-and-discuss with all of their groups.
Prentice Ashford, Director of OMA, said that this lunch aims to engage students of all cultural backgrounds, discuses their culture and learn about other cultures around them.
Ashford said, “We start off by showing a 10-to-15-minute clip of a movie. We watch that and then we discuss what we watched. We relate it to our culture and then share with the group what we think. It’s a simple structure with questions that are easy to follow.”
They are currently watching “Crash.” This is also the second time that they have had a gathering like this, and Ashford said, “This is the same amount that showed up last time.” They have had 35 students both times. “It is our way of expanding on community with our groups.”
Sheila Haines, a senior nursing major form Dallas, says that this meet-and-discuss is “a great opportunity about the diversity that we encounter everyday. These are things that we do not talk about in a classroom.”
Jaquelyn Loya, a junior social work major for Rockwell, says that this meet-and-discuss “raises awareness of the diversity and gives the students opportunities to meet different cultures and perspectives.” She also says that one of the questions that they discussed this week is the idea of racism. She said, “Everybody had a different idea and definition of the idea of racism.”
OMA will continue to have this lunch and show movie clips every other week on Mondays after chapel.
The next big events for them is the Cultural Awareness week in November and a Snapenger hunt during the last week of class. This is OMA’s version of a scavenger hunt, but they are going to use Snapchat.
Women’s Basketball starting practice or a follow up on the Snapenger Hunt.
