By Abigail Bates
On Friday Mar. 10, President Wayne D. Lewis, Jr. announced the closing of the Mosaic Multicultural Center.
“Many individuals,” President Lewis wrote, “view the space as exclusive and unwelcoming, leading to the effect of few students engaging in the learning experiences the space was intended to foster.”
In the Fall 2023 semester, the space will become a Campus Ministry area led by Dean Michael Jordan for Emmanuel Scholars, Life Together Groups, and a new campus-wide discipleship program. The ambassador program from the Mosaic Center will continue as the Intercultural Ambassadors, and will work on promoting intercultural connections and events.
For various reasons, the Mosaic Center began to increasingly fall short of its intended goals leading to the decision to close the center.
“Houghton,” President Lewis wrote, “will be able to more effectively accomplish the institution’s goals in this area if our goals are separated from the Mosaic Center and the physical space it now occupies.”
While many students recognize the problems of the Mosaic Center, some are dissatisfied with the administrative response.
“I do agree that the Mosaic Center often felt like an unapproachable place,” Senior Benjamin Dostie (‘23) writes. “There used to be more events there in my freshman year that allowed majority population students like me to interact in constructive ways . . . Even if President Lewis was right that it wasn’t meeting expectations, it would have been nice to see some corrective action or collaborative effort to align it with stated values before such a drastic action.”
Senior Isabelle Murch (‘23) feels that the Mosaic Center went from one extreme to the other without being given the tools to thrive. She wishes time was taken to listen to the entire student body, and rather than closing it, restructure the center to become proactive in celebrating diversity.
Some students are also concerned with removing a safe space for people of differing racial and ethnic backgrounds. Sophomore Kimberly Borges Edwards (‘25) and Junior Caroline Zimmerman (‘24) wrote about the negative impact closing the center will have on diversity at Houghton, and the lack of care and support marginalized students feel from administration as a result of this decision.
Women’s Area Coordinator Raegan Zelaya remarks that while she understands the reasoning behind closing the Mosaic Center, Houghton–as an institution–can’t claim to value diversity if we aren’t doing everything we can to safeguard and develop it.
“If anything,” Zelaya writes, “it feels like it just further demonstrates that the university is only interested in the kinds of diversity that are convenient for marketing purposes. It is outrageous to have diversity as a pillar in our strategic plan when we are actively cutting the programs and spaces that help empower diverse students to succeed.”
The Intercultural Ambassadors, renamed from the current ambassador program, will provide intentional and impactful programming on campus to foster intercultural connections and learning through student leadership. President Lewis writes that these student leaders will help plan events for heritage months, assist the MLK Day Committee, and organize campus conversations. It is simply the space being closed, he comments.
“Houghton remains committed to intercultural education and engagement,” President Lewis explains, “which is why the ambassadors [program] is remaining, with an explicit focus on facilitating and supporting Christ-centered intercultural education and engagement.”
Contact Vice President Marc Smithers for more information on the Intercultural Ambassadors. ★