The Student Government Association organized its first Culture Week, a new campaign aimed at empowering minority students, promoting professional development and encouraging cross-cultural engagement on campus.

SGA President Tamil Adele said SGA is taking extra steps this year to ensure students understand the purpose behind its campaign events. In addition to promoting events on Instagram, the group includes a purpose statement with each campaign.

“With every campaign week or initiative, we want to make sure everybody knows the purpose of why we’re doing it,” said Adele, a senior criminal justice major from Midland. “We want to be good stewards of the money we’ve been given by the university and make sure we’re setting the standard so students know why we’re doing this.”

Culture Week is designed to “foster a weeklong experience of professional and educational development while highlighting minority students in the United States,” according to SGA’s purpose statement. The goal is to empower minority students to share their cultural experiences with confidence while welcoming nonminority students to learn and participate.

A week of cultural events

From Monday through Friday, Culture Week included a variety of events highlighting student voices and experiences:

• Monday: Town Hall — Faculty of color shared their professional and educational journeys while students asked questions.

• Tuesday: Flea Market and Workshop — Local small businesses and student groups set up tables in the Campus Center. A Pathway U professional development workshop was also highlighted.

• Thursday: Movie Night and Purple Game — In partnership with the Black Students’ Union, SGA hosted a showing of Drumline. Students were also encouraged to attend the women’s soccer purple game, promoted for its cultural significance to many international and Spanish-speaking communities.

• Friday: Tabling and Multicultural Food — SGA handed out popsicles, stickers and notebooks in the Campus Center as a reminder of encouragement, while the Bean featured multicultural food options.

The impact of Culture Week

Adele said the goal of the campaign is not only to highlight minority students but also to invite the entire campus into shared cultural spaces.

“Students of color should know they can take up space on campus,” Adele said. “At the same time, nonstudents of color should come with an attitude ready to learn. Culture is meant to be shared, and ACU is the perfect place to start practicing that.”

Adele also said the overlap with Missions Week, though challenging, ultimately benefited both groups.

“Even though it wasn’t the most convenient timing, we both got to serve our purposes at the same time,” Adele said. “That was very beautiful because where the events overlapped, students were able to see both.”