Unity Multicultural Education Center Updates

By: David Garcia, UMEC

The Unity Multicultural Education Center (UMEC) would like to thank you for sharing your student with us at Gonzaga. If you get a chance, remind them to stop by our offices at 730 E. Boone to relax on the comfy couches, connect with staff, eat a meal, meet friends, and engage in conversations.

UMEC provides educational opportunities that cultivate mindfulness, intercultural development and support the benefits of a pluralistic and inclusive environment. If you are wondering what the educational opportunities may look like, look no further; you can read our most recent newsletter here.

We are hosting two educational opportunities that are slated for January and early February. Please encourage your student to attend one or both of these programs.

Annual GU Iron Chef: Cultural Cooking Battle: January 25 | 3-4:30pm | Cataldo Globe Room

GU Iron Chef is an annual event for students to share with the GU community their respective culture through the experience of cultural cuisine. The goal of this event is to build a more inclusive GU community by providing a platform for all to interact, learn and experience the culinary delights of other cultures.

Cultural Awareness Night: Slavery by Another Name: February 6 | 7pm | Jundt Auditorium

By 1865, despite the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment, and the Confederate defeat in the Civil War, many former slaves did not in reality experience “a new birth of freedom.”  It is a shocking reality that often goes unacknowledged that a huge system of forced, unpaid labor, mostly affecting Southern black men, became the new work force until World War II.  In effect, the laws of Jim Crow “black codes” served to re-enslave African Americans, a reality which persists with our criminal justice system today. Based on the Pulitzer-Prize-winning book by Douglas Blackmon.