The Roger D. and Carla B. Smith Intercultural Center, which has been in progress since August of 2021, is approaching completion. The date of the ribbon cutting ceremony is currently set for Nov. 13 at 4 p.m., though the center is predicted to be finished and open at an earlier date. 

The Intercultural Center will be located next to the Center for Student Involvement in the Memorial Union. It will include a welcome center, a conference room, an interfaith space, an intercultural library/event venue and a lounge that will be open during Memorial Union operating hours. The center will be staffed with its director and coordinator, whose offices will be located within the center, as well as a graduate assistant and a team of student workers helping with both the Intercultural Center and basic needs program. 

“Our hope for the space is to give people the opportunity to talk across identities and cultures, and to promote respect and belonging… I’m super excited for this space,” said Intercultural Center Director Mike Torres. “The Intercultural Center is really a testament to the value our university places on diversity, equity and inclusion, that our university and alumni are willing to put money toward DEI and basic needs.” 

In addition to providing a space for connectedness across cultures, the Intercultural Center is intended to provide a space for identity-based student organizations to meet. In this endeavor, the intercultural library will have collapsible furniture for events and the conference room will have a TV for hybrid-remote meetings to promote accessibility.  

“PRIDE just lost the space that they were meeting in, so with the new Intercultural Center opening up we hope that organizations such as PRIDE and HALO will be able to utilize the space,” said Torres. 

PRIDE, or People Respecting Individuality & Diversity in Education and HALO, the Hispanic American Leadership Organization, are registered student organizations on campus. 

The Intercultural Center plans to host upcoming events such as the Fall Lavender Ceremony on Nov. 22 and a prospective event to promote civic engagement approaching the upcoming election. 

“The Intercultural Center will be a great space to not only get connected to students but also for different communities to get connected with each other,” said Percy Holt, coordinator of the Intercultural Center. “I really hope the intercultural center will be a great place for the different organizations to collaborate with each other and engage with communities they have not engaged with before.”