By Chloe Goldberg

The Office of Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy hosted its third annual CommUMDiversity resource expo on Wednesday, bringing 75 student organizations together to highlight diverse communities, provide resources to new and returning students and encourage discussion on inclusivity.

The expo, which took place at the Stamp Student Union, is part of an effort to create a home away from home for multicultural students on campus. In bolstering communication between students from all backgrounds, the events touched on one of MICA’s biggest goals: preparing graduates with cultural competence in an ever-diversifying world.

“Everybody on campus has a major role to play in diversity, whether you’re a student, faculty or staff…you all play a major role in helping us all become who America is going to be,” Brandon Dula, assistant director of MICA, said.

Wednesday’s events kicked off at 11 a.m. with the Unity Welcome Fair, hosted by the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education. Several campus organizations and departments, ranging from the Muslim Student Association to the Residence Hall Association, gathered in the Stamp’s Grand Ballroom to promote student involvement. A DJ entertained visitors, who were also treated to popcorn and ice cream from Maryland Dairy. 

Candela Cerpa, vice president of UMD’s Political Latinxs United for Movement and Action in Society, which had its own booth at the fair, said events like CommUMDiversity are essential in giving minority students a sense of belonging. 

“Something that I hear every year without fail when we host things like this is underclassmen Latinx students saying ‘I don’t know where the Latinx students are,’” said the senior environmental science and policy major. “I think it’s really important that the university gives us a forum to reach out to these students and tell them, ‘We’re here. We go through the same things you do. We can help you go through it.’”

Dominique Austin, a freshman psychology and criminology major who visited the fair, echoed Cerpa’s sentiment. 

“Being a person of color and coming to a predominantly white school, it kind of felt a little isolating not to see people of your own race or your own cultural background. So to know that there are organizations that promote that sense of community, it really helps,” Austin said. 

In addition to the Unity Welcome Fair, CommUMDiversity featured a speech from Georgina Dodge, the newly appointed vice president of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and a webinar on “Woke Olympics and Social Justice Arrogance,” hosted by diversity consultant and alumnus Jamie Washington. 

An open TOTUS class featuring Washington D.C.-based singer and songwriter Be Steadwell was also held later in the day in the Art Gallery. TOTUS, a component of the Inclusive Language Campaign run by MICA and the Department of Resident Life, aims to “explore marginalized identities” and promote social justice through poetry.

MICA held its first CommUMDiversity Expo in November 2016. It was launched in conjunction with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s “Rise Above -ism’s” campaign, a weeklong series of programming that sought to create a dialogue around the harmful impact of “-ism’s” in society. 

The expo was held again a year later, but MICA took a brief hiatus from the event in 2018, said assistant director Dula, who organized the event this year.

This is the first year the expo was held in September. He emphasized this as a positive change for students to be aware of diversity resources earlier in the year.

He also noted how important it was that students feel comfortable crossing lines of difference through open conversation. 

“That’s going to be good for them individually,” Dula said. “But it’s also going to be good for our country.”