February 20, 2008
The Multicultural Advisory Committee is an advisory group
to the President that addresses both the broad issues of
multiculturalism in higher education and the specific multicultural
needs of our St. John’s University community. In order to
hear from the widest possible audience, the committee selected to
focus on the issue of community engagement at its annual meeting on
the Staten Island campus.
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Approximately 60 students, faculty, administrators and staff
gathered on the Staten Island Campus on Tuesday, February 19, 2008,
for the President’s Multicultural Advisory Committee’s Student
Forum. The topic for the forum was, “Inspiring Student
Success through Community Engagement." It was facilitated
by Reginald Barnes, the Director for Multicultural
Affairs, in the Division of Student Affairs.
Students from a variety of backgrounds spoke out on the
opportunities they had to engage with others, as well as the
obstacles they encountered. Ashlee Lynch, a junior on the
Staten Island campus spoke movingly about her experience on a
Campus Ministry Weekend Plunge in Philadelphia where she had
the opportunity to visit a senior citizen complex during the
holiday season. She called the experience “remarkable”
because she saw how much it meant to people who would otherwise
have no visitors during this emotional time. She said it
reminded her that the elderly are people too, and that she would
want no less for her own grandparents.
John Piraino, a Staten Island campus junior, spoke of his
experience on the New Orleans Plunge last spring. He
remembered working with a New Orleans resident named Tom Cruise
whose motto was, “no mission was impossible." In
addition to assisting the victims of Hurricane Katrina, John
felt the experience was “outstanding” because it gave him an
opportunity to bond with fellow students who he ordinarily would
have “passed by” had he seen them on campus.
Christie Rossiter, also a junior, spoke poignantly about her
difficulty coming to the Staten Island campus from upstate.
She felt at first that everyone else seemed like a member
of a “big family” and she wondered if she would fit in. But,
she went on to say that “everyone was a minority in some way” and
that it is important to have organizations welcoming to all,
concluding that we all could all be engaged in working for “human
rights."
Proud of her involvement in the Criminal Justice Organization on
the Staten Island campus, graduate student Savreen Singh
thought it was important to recognize groups that reached out
beyond their members. She said many faculty, students
and staff members attended their murder mystery event because the
organization made an effort to reach out and personally invite
them. She was particularly pleased when her group’s efforts
resulted in them winning the campus’ “Organization of the Year
Award."
Martha Nwosu, a junior encouraged the other students to “be
visible, go to the college offices to introduce yourself, and
invite people to your programs.”
Many spoke of the need to get the commuter students
involved. There was a consensus that faculty provided an
important link to the commuter students and that they can promote
engagement by allowing students to introduce themselves to each
other in the classroom and to keep students informed about upcoming
events and opportunities.
Sharon Lynch Norton, Esq., Vice Provost for the Staten Island
campus, concluded the discussion by noting that we are all
“learners” and as a University, we come here to “learn from each
other.”
For more information on the President’s Multicultural Advisory
committee, please see: www.stjohns.edu/mac .