Perspectives From a Multicultural Affairs Office Professional

The purpose of this chapter is to contextualize the challenges that the office of multicultural affairs staff at one state university experienced while moving to virtual learning formats. This study seeks to offer four specific recommendations and best practices for both multicultural affairs offices/centers and higher education institutions, in general, to ensure that students who utilize these virtual format spaces will continue to develop a sense of belonging within the institution. The author historicizes the formation of Black cultural centers and their development into multicultural affairs, tracks the public recognition of the essential importance of these centers and diversity and inclusion programming, and outlines the issues and problems the OMA staff faced in virtually providing a continued and ongoing sense of belonging for diverse students and staff. Higher education institutions can use these recommendations to inform the future of virtual multicultural affairs offices.

People, Place, and Connections: Black Cultural Center Staff as Facilitators of Social Capital

Black cultural centers (BCCs) have served students on college campuses across the country for over 50 years, but empirical research about the benefits they offer Black students, beyond examples referenced in the conceptual and historical literature, remains limited. As the relevance of BCCs has come into question given financial constraints, more diverse student bodies, and a shift to discontinuing race-specific cultural centers in favor of multicultural centers, rigorous studies about their contributions are needed. Through an ethnographic approach, this investigation explores how a BCC site and its staff act as institutional, cultural, and entrepreneurial agents by facilitating the development of social capital among Black undergraduate students. They do this by (a) serving as conduits for campus services that struggle to reach Black undergraduate students, (b) strategically coordinating resources and relationships among Black organizations to meet the needs of the Black community, and (c) collaborating with peer cultural/identity centers to streamline efforts.