Beaver's Digest Vol. 8 Issue 1 | Finding Home | Nov. 3, 2022 by Beaver's Digest

LETTER FROM

THE EDITORS DEAR READERS,

DEAR READERS,

We are so excited to share this magazine with you. I am so grateful to every writer who took on a story to help spotlight the stories of these centers. Never before has there been an entire publication dedicated to memorializing OSU’s Cultural Centers. We also acknowledge that our cover illustrations cannot truly represent every community or may come across as generalized or stereotypical, however each illustration was drawn from specific cultural events. We have tried our best to represent as many students as we can.

Working on this issue has been a labor of love and a testament to the hard working writers here at Beaver’s Digest.

I never realized how impactful protests, walkouts and petitions have been and continue to be in developing OSU’s cultural centers. If students from marginalized communities hadn’t questioned systems of power—and if staff and others hadn’t supported them—most of the centers at OSU wouldn’t even exist. Even now, it’s clear that seven centers cannot truly represent every student. Recent advances towards establishing an international student lounge and disabled student lounge are just two examples of communities pursuing space at OSU— perhaps in the future, we will see similar advances for the creation of more centers.

As a person of color myself, I know how important it is to find community at a predominantly white institution and I hope that this issue only makes it easier for you, OSU students, to find where you belong.

Words cannot fully express how grateful I am to have worked with Alan Nguyen, our creative lead, on this magazine. He has spent countless hours designing each spread with genuine passion and innate skills that never cease to amaze me. The cover and back of this magazine, featuring such beautiful, carefully crafted illustrations, were completed by Creative Associates Chloe Jameson and Draken Reeves. I am also grateful to Photo Lead Ashton Bisner and every photographer who helped shoot the breathtaking editorial pictures included in this issue. I also appreicate our journalism adviser Jennifer Moody, who never fails to support us through stressful times.

Our team is small, but mighty, and we pulled off an incredible issue — I couldn’t be happier with our first issue of the year, and my first issue as Assistant Editor. It is such important work to do, to provide students on our campus with an all-encompassing layout to the communities that exist here at OSU.

I want to thank all of the center directors who were so cooperative in allowing our writers and photographers to enter their spaces, our amazing Creative Team — both Alan and Chloe for making this issue beautiful — and our writers, for taking on extra assignments and doing them to their best ability. Couldn’t end this message without thanking our wonderful Editor in Chief, Sukhjot Sal, for leading the vision.

Best,

Adriana Gutierrez ASSISTANT EDITOR

Lastly, thank you to all the folks in the Cultural Centers for trusting your stories with us. We hope you truly see yourselves in this magazine.

Best,

Sukhjot Sal

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

COVER ILLUSTRATION: Chloe Jameson & Draken Reeves

TA B L E O F C O N T E N TS

INA HAWS SERVES AS A REMINDER: 'INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ARE STILL HERE'

CENTRO CULTURAL CÉSAR CHÁVEZ: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

'JUST COME IN:' LONNIE B. HARRIS BLACK CULTURAL CENTER OFFERS WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT

‘A LITTLE BIT LIKE A FAMILY’ A CONVERSATION WITH ASIAN & PACIFIC CULTURAL CENTER STUDENT STAFF

Q & A WITH PRIDE CENTER DIRECTOR CINDY KONRAD

ETTIHAD CULTURAL CENTER: 'A SOURCE OF CONNECTION AND BELONGING'

WOMEN AND GENDER CENTER, WGSS PROGRAM CELEBRATE 50 YEARS

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE’S DAY IN CORVALLIS: THE POWER OF CASUAL CONVERSATION AND STUDENT ADVOCACY

'YOU NEED YOUR OWN PERMANENT SPACE:' DISABLED STUDENT LOUNGE TO RUN AS PILOT PROGRAM

SOL: BRIGHTENING CAMPUS FROM WITHIN THE PRIDE CENTER

'COMMITMENT TO ACTIVISM:' HOW A LAWSUIT PIONEERED A NEW OSU PROGRAM

‘TO TEACH AND WORK IN A CENTER IS REALLY POWERFUL:’ LUHUI WHITEBEAR ON BEING FIRST TENURE-TRACK CENTER DIRECTOR

LONG-ANTICIPATED RENOVATIONS NEARLY UNDERWAY TO OSU’S PRIDE CENTER

MEET

T H E STA F F

Sukhjot Sal

Adriana Gutierrez

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Ashton Bisner PHOTO LEAD

Alan Nguyen

CREATIVE LEAD

Emma Coke

COPY EDITOR

Chloe Jameson

CREATIVE ASSOCIATE

Draken Reeves

CREATIVE ASSOCIATE

Riley LeCocq WRITER

Abheer Singh WRITER

Ginnie Sandoval

Natalie Sharp

WRITER

Taylor Bacon WRITER

Duane Knapp

PHOTOGRAPHER

Grace Johnson

PHOTOGRAPHER

Jess Hume-Pantuso PHOTOGRAPHER

Hailey Knapp

PHOTOGRAPHER

Seth Bagasani

Julie Barber

PHOTOGRAPHER

Alex Ozeran

PHOTOGRAPHER

Sabrina Dedek

PHOTOGRAPHER

NOT PICTURED:

Olyvia Neal WRITER

H. Beck

ILLUSTRATOR

Teresa Aguilera ILLUSTRATOR

Jiratana Tungkawachara PHOTOGRAPHER

tracing history M A P P I N G T H E E V O L U T I O N O F O S U ’S C U L T U R A L C E N T E R S

1972 The Centro Cultural César Chávez was founded in 1972, and focuses on the needs of Latinx and Chicanx students and people, as well as bringing attention to the struggles they face. Originally, the founders of the center met in the basement of Milam Hall, but they opened their own, new location in 1977. The center contains a library of literature related to Latinx culture, a kitchen, computers and printers, a lounge with TV, video games, and movies, a study space, quiet room and gender-inclusive restrooms.

1973 The second center to be opened on campus is the Hattie Redmond Women and Gender Center, created in 1973. Their projects are generally focused on women’s issues on campus, the wider Corvallis community, and the world in general. They aim to create a culture on campus that accepts differing perspectives, celebrates diversity, and is free of violence and harassment. It was originally founded to help combat issues of sexual violence on campus.

1973 The third of the centers created was the Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws in 1973. It is the campus representative of people of the indigenous Americas and Pacific Islanders. Originally named the Native American Longhouse until 2013, it came from the Native American Student Association, and was connected to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, a reservation partially for the tribe whose historical land OSU’s campus was built on.

OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY is home to no less than seven different cultural centers, dating back to the 1970’s and increasing in number up to the 2010’s. These centers were, of course, made to fill the needs of certain minority groups, but few people actually know the history of the centers.

1975 The Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center was founded in 1975, and they work to empower and retain black students by offering leadership opportunities and promoting an environment of cultural diversity. It was founded to counteract an issue of loss of students of color in the late 1960s due to discrimination. Originally, in 1973, there was a cultural center for all students of color, but in April of 1975, the Black Student Union created the cultural center specifically for Black students.

LEFT TO RIGHT: 1) Della Perez-Franks, Samuel Aguirre and Naomi Arreguin-Richmond speaking in the formerly-named Chicano Cultural Center. 2) The Women and Gender Center building in 1895, then called the Oregon Agricultural College. 3) Meeting in the Native American Longhouse on Nov. 18, 1987. 4) Bobby Hill, president of Black Student Union, and University President Robert MacVicar cutting the ribbon to the Black Cultural Center in June 1975. 5) Event at the Asian and Pacific Cultural Center in 2004. 6) Pride Center gathering in 1997. 7) Ettihad Cultural Festival in April 2021. Photo courtesy of Ettihad Cultural Center Twitter.

1991 The Asian and Pacific Cultural Center, founded in 1991, was established to create a welcoming environment for students from Asian and Pacific Islander backgrounds. There was an initiative for the establishment of an Asian cultural center as far back as 1980, and originally held a space in Snell Hall, before moving to their own building, and eventually getting their current building in 2014. Unique to the center is a community garden that all students can enjoy.

WRITER:

OLYVIA NEAL

2006 In 2006, the Pride Center was created to provide support to all members of the LGBTQ+ community, whether on campus or online. The need for the center was originally identified in 1999, and the center obtained a space in the women and gender center in 2000, before the building was eventually constructed. Currently, the building is undergoing renovations that are under construction as of August, according to their website.

2012 The most recent, though potentially not the last, center to be instituted at OSU is the Ettihad Cultural Center in 2012. It is supportive of students of North African and West, Central and South Asian descent, as well as those from the horn of Africa. It was originally founded as a student organization and was moved around some, before coming to their current home in the Student Experience Center. Each spring term, the center holds a cultural festival that often draws crowds in the thousands.

PHOTOS

COURTESY OF OREGON DIGITAL

I N A H AWS I N A H AWS I N A H AWS

WRITER:

SUKHJOT SAL

PHOTOGRAPHER:

JESS HUME-PANTUSO

S S S

SERVES AS A REMINDER: 'INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ARE STILL HERE'

N 1973, the Native American Student Association, the Chicano Student Union and the Black Student Union advocated for a shared Cultural Center.

Later that year, the Ina Haws—then called the Native American Longhouse—was created, becoming the first stand-alone center to branch out of the shared Cultural Center and the first center at Oregon State University to represent the Indigenous people of the Americas and Pacific Islands. This marked the start of years of student activism for more Cultural Centers to provide spaces on campus for students of different identities to call home. Located in a repurposed World War II Quonset Hut — a lightweight structure made of corrugated galvanized steel in the form of a semi-cylindrical cross-section — the NAL served students from fall 1973 to fall 2013. The Eena Haws — translating to “Beaver House” in chinook wawa/jargon — opened in winter 2013, in a newly constructed building that echoed the “shape and style of a traditional Oregon Coast longhouse,” according to an OSU press release from May 2013. “The new center was a response to decades of student and staff advocacy to build a new center and university capital campaign fundraising,” the Ina Haws website stated. This longhouse is the same one that serves students today. The center offers all students, faculty, staff and OSU community members a fully-equipped kitchen, computers, TV and video games, lounge, study space, spiritual room, library of books on Indigenous topics and gender-inclusive bathrooms.

LEFT: The Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws is a cultural center located at Oregon State University, on the traditional lands of the Kalapuya on Oct. 5, 2022. The cultural center represents the Indigenous people of the Americas and Pacific Islands.

The Ina Haws has been decorated with donated artwork from Pacific Northwest Native artists, including the centerpiece, which is a 360-degree totem crafted by two assistant carvers and master carver Clarence Mills, a member of Haida Nation, an Indigenous people located in Canada and Alaska. “This structure is a combination of several different models in the Pacific Northwest but it’s not intended to be a traditional one, obviously, because it’s a blend of several,” said Luhui Whitebear, center director of the Ina Haws and assistant professor of the School of Language, Culture and Society. In September 2021, the center announced a name change. According to their website, Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws means “unified strength of the Beaver House” in a combination of chinuk wawa/jargon and Polynesian languages. “Formally known as the Native American Longhouse Eena Haws, this new name centers Indigenous languages and unity,” the Ina Haws announced. The name is pronounced Kah-goo EE-hxt (where the x makes more of an h sound), Mah-nuh, EE-nuh, house. “Just having the space itself is a reminder of whose lands we’re on, and not all of us here that identify as Indigenous are from local tribes, so we also hope that beyond other Indigenous folk on campus, the broader campus will help learn the histories and help educate each other about whose lands we’re on,” Whitebear said. “This space serves as a reminder of that; that Indigenous people are still here.” “The Ina Haws prides itself in being a brave space that Indigenous students can be in community and express their culture,” the Ina Haws website states. “Events are held fall, winter and spring terms that highlight Indigenous history, culture, and current issues that also help give the broader campus community more understanding about Indigenous people. We always recognize and give thanks to the Kalapuya people whose land OSU resides.”

“

The Ina Haws prides itself in being a brave space that Indigenous students can be in community and express their culture. We always recognize and give thanks to the Kalapuya people whose land OSU resides. - Ina Haws website

ABOVE: Students arrive at the Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws for tours of the cultural center on Oct. 5, 2022 in Corvallis, Ore. The Native American Longhouse was the name of the original Indigenous-based center on campus in 1973. LEFT: The totem pole located inside the Ina Haws on Oct. 5, 2022 in Corvallis, Ore. The name Eena Haws was chosen to reference being a space welcome to all students, hence the translation “beaver house.”

”

CENTRO CULTURAL

CESAR CHAVEZ T H E PAS T, P R E S E N T A N D F U T U R E

“T

HE CENTRO means a lot of opportunities,” said Freddy León, Centro Cultural César Chávez director.

Thanks to the advocacy of students and staff members on the Chicano Cultural Advisory Committee, a facility of their own was established as the Chicano Cultural Center.

The Centro provides opportunities for students to engage on many levels, from programming events, expressing their creative sides through open mics, engaging in learning opportunities and meeting others in the Latinx community all at the same time, according to León.

The small house that the Centro began as was relocated to SW A Street, the same location that the Centro stands in today, and officially opened April of 1977.

The work that makes the Centro the place of opportunity it is today dates back to almost 45 years ago. The Centro Cultural César Chávez first opened its door in April 1977 as a result of years of student activism but under a different name and in a different building. Roughly five years before the center opened in its first independent iteration, students from the Black Student Union, Native American Student Union and Chicano Student Union gathered in the basement of Milam Hall to create the beginnings of a collaborative cultural center.

backgrounds as me,” Lira Licon said. “[It] means I have a place that I belong.” In addition to holding programming centered around supporting those who identify as Latinx, the Centro has also worked in partnership with other cultural centers on campus to make the space more inclusive.

Once opened, the Chicano Cultural Center or ‘casa de la raza,’ underwent a series of name changes. In 1981 the name was changed to the Hispanic Cultural Center, which was quickly met with student disagreement as the history of the word Hispanic is derogatory. The name was then changed in 1996 to the Centro Cultural César Chávez and has remained ever since.

“We recognize that [we] can hold multiple identities, some of us may be Latinx but also hold Indigenous roots,” León said.

Third-year student and Centro graphic designer Michelle Lira Licon reflected on what it means to have a space on campus designed for the Latinx community independent of a singular joint multicultural center that other campuses have.

According to Lira Licon, as a part of this operation, student staff added more artwork from a variety of Latinx countries and created a leader wall in one of their conference rooms which displays portraits of many Latinx leaders in history and today.

“I know there's a place to have community and be with people who come from similar

“We wanted to say the center is open to anyone,” said Teresa Aguilera, fourth-year

Back in 2019 the Centro launched “operation warm vibes” in an effort to steer away from the Mexican centrism that some community members and students felt was present in the space.

A LOOK INTO THE LIVES

WRITER:

RILEY LECOCQ

OF THE CCCC STAFF

PHOTOGRAPHER:

SETH BAGASANI

AS A GRADUATE student, Freddy Leon frequented the Centro Cultural César Chávez in 2015 before working as an academic advisor and now joining the Centro as staff.

BELOW: The front entrance of the Centro Cultural César Chávez on Oct. 4, 2022. The Centro is a cultural center with spaces for students to study, gather and take part in activities.

“I wanted to give back to the community that gave a lot to me,” Leon said. Leon sees the importance of having connections with others and sources of support contributing to student success. “As a Latinx-identifying person, community is always a big thing for us, and so anytime there are events that bring people together it is something that stays in your memory,” Leon said. Outside of the Centro, Leon considers himself an artsy person, painting on canvas with acrylic paint, baking and most recently cake decorating. graphic design student and Centro leadership liaison.

Above the Centro’s welcome desk are painted hand prints from staff members. One of these handprints belongs to third-year apparel design and merchandising management student and Centro graphic designer Michelle Lira Licona, who also has a passion for creative pastimes like upcycling and sewing.

This idea of shifting to include more Latinx identity is something that Rosy Celedonio, Centro leadership liaison, and other student staff plan to continue working on through collaborations with other centers on campus but also the idea of something bigger. “The [purpose of the operation] from 2019 was to shift away from Mexican centrism and the person that we are named after is Mexican and some criticism of his political views,” said Lira Licon. “We might change to a name that is more inclusive to more latinx identities in general.” León, who is new to his role as Centro director, hopes to continue the work that these students have been doing. “I see that the Centro is a welcoming environment for folks and my hope is to continue that work and continue operating that way and making sure students know they can come,” said León. “They have a space here."

TOP TO BOTTOM: Teresa Aguilera, Michelle Lira Licona, Freddy León and Rosy Celedonio in front of the Centro Cultural César Chávez on Oct. 4, 2022. The Centro is located at 691 SW 26th St, Corvallis, Ore.

“I have always been drawn to creative stuff,” Lira Licona said. Lira Licona began working at the Centro during the pandemic, creating promotion materials and social media content. “I know there’s a place to have community and be with people who come from similar backgrounds as me,” Lira Licona said. “[The Centro] means I have a place that I belong.” Fourth-year student and leadership liaison Teresa Aguilera stumbled upon

the community relations representative position at the Centro when looking for campus jobs in the spring of 2021. “I was a more reserved person and didn’t speak up that much about being an LL and CRR has allowed me to be more social, more outgoing, more talkative,” Aguilera said. Aguilera said she is grateful for the experiences and lessons she has had at the Centro. “It was hard to meet people who identified as Latinx but here at the Centro I can have that community,” Aguilera said. Originally coming to college thinking she was destined to go into medicine, Rosy Celedonio, another Centro leadership liaison and fourth-year public health student, said her future career plans changed after working as Centro community relations representative. “I never really saw myself as a leader when I first came here as a freshman,” Celedonio said. “I just didn’t think I had the skills or capabilities to be a leader and now that I am in my own community and in a space that feels good to do that [I have].” Celedonio found a passion for connecting with others, welcoming them to OSU and social justice through programming. “I decided to stick to my public health route only and specifically work with communities, and farm working communities via the social justice route,” Celedonio said. Her passion for health has not changed though, as in her freetime she enjoys lifting and going on walks while discovering new music. “Being more comfortable in my identity and in my culture is a really important aspect of my development as well, I am definitely going to take that with me moving on,” Celedonio said.

‘

JUST’ “

COME IN:

HEN YOU come to the center, you’re at peace.”

For Zem Hussen, working at the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center is all about realizing your potential, surrounded by your community. She’s been involved with the center as a student volunteer for the last year, though she’s spent time within the walls of the center since she first stepped onto Oregon State University’s campus. Gabi Prescott nodded her head while Hussen talked about what she loved about the center. “It’s really easy to build community here. We all want the community feel. There’s only so many of us,” said Prescott, who is also a student volunteer.

LONNIE B. HARRIS BLACK

CULTURAL

CENTER OFFERS

WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT

For nearly 50 years, the center has provided a “home away from home” for Black students from all over the African diaspora, according to Jamar Bean, current center director. “Students are continuing to fight for presence: having a space and a presence on campus,” Bean said. In 1969, the fight for space from a Black OSU student and star football player created a legacy for students on the OSU campus to push back against the administration. OSU’s football coach kicked Fred Milton — who held a linebacker position — off the team, after demanding that Milton cut his hair. Milton refused, sticking true to his claim that Coach Dee Andros was violating his human rights. On March 5, 1969, Milton and approximately 50 students who were enrolled in the Black Student Union, staged a walk-out.

The protest was recognized nationally and ignited a fire under OSU administration to listen to the needs of Black students on campus, though not immediately. Many students involved received withdrawal slips and were barred from registering for the next academic term. Following the tumultuous year, the Office of Minority Affairs at OSU made its debut. Three years later, a cultural center opened for Black, brown and Indigenous students. On April 26, 1975, BSU had a cultural center to call their own. “Black students want to make sure that they have a space where they can be authentically them: authentically Black, authentically themselves — given the different identities we have within the Black-African diaspora… and that people understand that there is a

NEW DIRECTOR

difference,” Bean said, while talking about what still resonates with the center’s origin story.

JAMAR BEAN

“Black people are not monolithic,” Bean added. Now, in 2022, the LBHCC is a dominant presence, facilitating events and gatherings that allow for the small population of Black students on campus to find their way to each other.

ADVOCATES FOR OSU’S BLACK STUDENTS LEFT: Jamar Bean outside the Black Cultural Center on Oct. 7, 2022. Bean is the new BCC center director.

Black Connect, an annual welcome event in the early fall term, saw over 100 students in attendance — an unexpected amount, according to Bean. Prescott and Hussen both mentioned this event as one of their favorite events of the year. Black Connect is one of four major events throughout the year, each typically geared towards celebrating Black excellence and culture. Despite the popularity of the events, Prescott and Hussen said that sometimes just being in the center is enough. “It's just a place where people can communicate and see other people that look like them and be themselves,” Hussen said. With a gaming center, study rooms and areas to sit and hang out, the two volunteers describe the center as “energetic.” For students who are nervous to go into the center, Prescott has three words to say: “Just come in.” LEFT: Exterior of Oregon State University’s Black Cultural Center located on Memorial Place. In late August the BCC hired a new center director, Jamar Bean.

WRITER:

ADRIANA GUTIERREZ PHOTOGRAPHER:

JULIE BARBER

program between 2017 and 2020. Following a short stint as an Oregon Duck, Bean returned back to OSU. Once more, he left to UO to serve as a Program Advisor for their Multicultural Centers before returning to OSU this September.

ON JAMAR BEAN’S ssecond day as center director for the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center, he was greeted with a hug by a student he hadn’t met yet. For him, it showed the importance of his role in fostering a community where students could feel like they had people who looked like them and lived their same experiences. “It’s like I had known them before,” Bean said about meeting student staff. “We mesh really well, which is odd because that typically doesn't happen so quickly. It’s usually something you have to build.” Rebuilding is the name of the game this year for Bean, as he works to revamp the look and resources provided in the center, all the while finding his groove as the new director. Bean graduated from Oregon State University in 2011 with a Human Development and Family Sciences degree, and left to work for University of Oregon in 2014. He then worked in the Office of Student Orientation START

“Having been a student on this campus, I understand how Black students specifically fall through the cracks as far as support and resources,” Bean said. “So I try to make sure I focus on making sure that our students feel supported, that they feel like they’ve got people here that want them to succeed and that they always have help.” He pointed towards some of the upcoming events for the BCC — PreKwanzaa, Black Excellence and Black History Month — as a way for Black students on campus to find their “home away from home.” Transplanting into Oregon from Houston, Bean spoke of his issues being a Black student at a predominantly white institution and the culture shock he felt when stepping into Corvallis spaces. While he had plans to transfer out of OSU and into a Historically Black College or University, he met his wife in his junior year and has remained in Oregon since. “I plan on being here. I never really wanted to leave the first time,” Bean said, emphasizing that he’s always been a Beaver at heart. “Oregon State is home for me, so it feels good to be home. It feels good to be in a familiar space, surrounded by people that look like me. I’ve never had that in my professional career. Ever.”

PICTURED: Phillip Sinapati, center director of the Asian and Pacific Cultural Center. His ultimate goal as director is to support students through APCC. Photo courtesy of Philip Sinapati.

WRITER:

ABHEER SINGH PHOTOGRAPHER:

JIRATANA TUNGKAWACHARA

‘A LITTLE LIKE A FA

“I WAS amazed,” said Phillip Sinapati, recalling the first time he visited the Asian and Pacific Cultural Center for his interview for his new position as center director of the APCC.

on making space for underrepresented voices

A the BO As VE: ia Im n a ag nd es Pa of cifi the c C ex ult teri ur or al a Ce nd nte int r. erio

Phillip Sinapati

‘supporting our students:’

Although Sinapati has only been in Corvallis and Oregon State University for a couple of months, he is excited to make an impact. Sinapati plans to highlight the center’s strengths while working to improve weaknesses. Before he begins this process, his first plan is to build relationships. “When you build those relationships, you can establish trust,” he explained. Sinapati has a personal connection to the APCC through his Pacific Islander heritage, but that is only one of several reasons he finds his work significant. “The work is meaningful to me,” he said. “I want to do all that I can and give all that I can in this position to really give a voice to underrepresented communities, underrepresented students.”

“We believe that learning is more than just what happens in a classroom,” Sinapati said. “It’s also that transformative experience that happens with engagement with other communities, with other organizations, with different people.” Sinapati hopes to facilitate events on cultural appreciation, leadership development and general wellbeing. “At the end of the day it's about supporting our students, it’s about fulfilling our mission and vision, and providing resources and opportunities for our students.”

TO E P D ric TO N ylan Kon BO gu L g, T ye uo co TO n, ng m M CR , l mu : A R; ead nit PC an er y r C d sh ela stu St ip tio de an lia n n ley iso s r t st Lu n; epre aff u, Ka se me CR te nt m R. lyn ativ ber e; s

As he progresses through his first year as center director, Sinapati is guided by principles he hopes to reflect in his work.

E BIT AMILY’ A CONVERSATION WITH STUDENT STAFF OF THE ASIAN AND PACIFIC CULTURAL CENTER

ET’S BE honest, college jobs can feel boring and trivial, so it is understandable that student employees often carry expressions of fatigue and indifference. That’s what makes OSU’s Asian and Pacific Cultural Center unique.

The brand new video game console is not the center’s most popular technology, Luu and Kong said. It is actually the printer which is known to draw in frequent student visitors, they said, who frantically make use of the free printing for last minute assignments.

The student employees at the Asian and Pacific Cultural Center are visibly enthusiastic. Their laughter and spirited conversation can be heard as soon as you enter the building.

The family atmosphere at the APCC is by design. The staff have put conscious thought towards the role of the APCC, and they are constantly striving to make it a welcoming home.

Community Relations Representative Stanley Luu describes the working environment “a little bit like a family.”

Leadership Liaison Dylan Luong said the center can help students who are feeling “lost.”

“Honestly sometimes working here doesn’t feel like working,” Luu said.

Both Luu and Kong were initially involved with the APCC through cultural clubs, the Vietnamese and Cambodian Student Associations respectively. For Community Relations Representative Katelyn Nguyen, the APCC provided a quiet room where she could regularly pray.

Another Community Relations Representative, Eric Kong, shares similar sentiments. “This job is a lot more like home,” said Kong when comparing the APCC to previous employers.

Last year, the APCC celebrated a historic 30-year anniversary.

The APCC certainly has all the makings of a home. The center is equipped with a quiet room, lounge area, dining room, library and even a PlayStation 5.

The center went through many changes over those 30 years, including three different physical locations. It was originally established as the Asian Cultural Center

in 1991 inside Snell Hall. In 2003, it was renamed to the Asian and Pacific Cultural Center, and in 2015 it moved to its newest and current location. Who knows what the next 30 years hold, but the student staff plans to make the most of their remaining time at the APCC. Kong hopes to organize a powerlifting meet through collaboration with the athletics department. It’s his last year at OSU and he wants to make sure “we leave our impact on our community here.” Luong, who is from Laos, wants to organize an event to raise awareness about the ‘Secret War’ in Laos. And as welcoming as the APCC is, Nguyen believes there is always room for improvement. “I want to be more inclusive of all Asian identities,” Nguyen said. These were only a few of the many goals the student staff have for the remaining year. Luu explains that at its core, the foundation of the APCC is “just the community itself”. It “really changed me,” he said with a smile.

WITH PRIDE CENTER DIRECTOR

Q: A: Q:

‌ hat is your name and what are your pronouns if W you are comfortable stating? ‌Cindy Konrad, and I use she and they pronouns. I’m equally comfortable with both.

‌ hat is your official position title? Have you held W any other positions here at OSU and if so what were they?

‌ I am the Center Director of the Pride Center and SOL: LGBTQ+ Multicultural Support Network. SOL is our network for LGBTQIA2S+ Black, Indigenous, and students of color in Diversity & Cultural Engagement.

Q: A:

‌ ow did you get involved with Oregon State H University and the Pride Center?

I‌ began doing Pride Center work at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. When I came to OSU to interview for the position here, I was impressed with the students I met. They were so thoughtful, they were willing to ask tough questions and they were so passionate about what the LGBTQIA2S+ community could be. I thought, yes. These are people I want to work with.

Q: A:

‌ hat does your job consist of? What kinds of W things do you do daily at the Pride Center?

‌ orking in a Cultural Resource Center involves W a bit of everything. I help support students who need resources or who are struggling, I supervise and mentor the SOL and Pride student staff members, I help the staff put on programming and find resources for our community, and I learn about the needs of LGBTQIA2S+ and questioning students. I also work outside of the center as a thought partner to people all over campus who are trying to make campus a more affirming place, and I serve on committees that address issues important to the LGBTQIA2S+ community. I also work with the LGBTQ+ Council of student groups, oversee the SOL and Pride budgets, and manage the Pride Center building.

Q: A:

‌ hat is the best part about working at the Pride W Center?

T‌ he best part of working with the SOL and the Pride Center is seeing students grow. I’ve gotten to know so many people who have just arrived on campus and then see how they become more themselves and more confident in their voices. It is wonderful to witness.

Q: A: 18

Q: A:

‌ hat is something you are looking forward to here W at the Pride Center?

‌ Our center has a history of being student-founded and run, and that is an ethos we try hard to keep in Diversity and Cultural Engagement. Professional staff are in the centers to offer support, guidance and take some of the weight of the work off of student leaders. Every year I look forward to seeing how students lead the work of the center. I also am looking forward to seeing the plans for our renovation come to life. That project has been in the planning stages for almost 20 years, and now it’s going to become a reality.

Q: A:

‌ hat has it been like working at the Pride W Center?

‌ orking at the Pride Center has been the W best professional adventure so far in my career. I am challenged in the absolutely best way by students and my coworkers in DCE, and I have learned and grown so much in the past seven years. I am in awe of the work that years of students have done to make SOL and the Pride Center a reality and to keep doing such important work. To be able to have a part in that work is an incredible honor.

‌ ow has working there and meeting H new people every day changed you from when you first started working?

‌ uring my time at OSU, I’ve seen D lots of things that student and staff advocates on campus have worked for come to life. Things like the Pride Floor, the identity-focused counselor positions in CAPS, and the

‌ o you think you’ve learned or D gained anything from working at the Pride Center?

‌ I’ve learned so much about the communities served by the cultural resource centers, including my own. I’ve gotten to meet so many people, hear their stories, their histories and learn about what is important to them. I am grateful to have these opportunities.

How long have you been working at the Pride Center?

WRITER:

‌ I celebrated my seven-year work anniversary on Sept. 1, 2022.

PHOTOGRAPHER:

TAYLOR BACON ALEX OZERAN

RIGHT: Pride Center Director Cindy Konrad posing with a Philadelphia pride flag on the OSU campus on Oct. 20, 2022. Konrad began working with Pride Centers at the University of WisconsinWhitewater before coming to OSU.

“A safe space for anyone

in the community:” How students speaking

out built the Pride Center OPEN FOR almost 20 years, the Pride Center has quickly become a well-known resource for students on campus. Originally, it was named the Queer Resource Center, but in 2004, the Diversity and Cultural Engagement Advisory Board voted for a new name: the Pride Center, a name would act as one that would reflect a positive connotation for all students and staff, as well as be more inclusive. The idea behind the name was that students already have school pride, and students wanted a space that had the same positive feel and pride for a different community at school. The need for a center like this began in 1999 when students first voiced their concerns, wanting a place where they could learn to express and discover themselves safely. In November of 2000, Student Involvement set aside a budget for such a place. Less than a year later, Student Involvement’s proposed budget for an independent Queer Resource Center was approved and in May of 2001, the Queer Resource Center was born.

As it expanded and more students felt supported, and the overall Pride Center was backed by more folks, the realization for the need of a larger, more suitable environment was recognized. The ASOSU Senate created and approved a budget for this to happen. In October of 2004, the Pride Center was moved to 1553 SW A Ave near the International Living and Learning Community. With this, the newly named Pride Center opened up once again to the students of Oregon State University. This standalone building gave students a place on campus to come together and be a part of a larger community. Recently, the Pride Center was relocated to the first floor of the Student Experience Center, a central and vital part of campus, where many students have access to it. In 2006, the OSU itself was named one of the top LGBT campuses in the country by “The Advocacy College Guide for LGBT Students” and it is currently ranked within the top 20 LGBT+ friendly from Campus Pride’s LGBT+ Friendly Campus Climate Index. For many years, even throughout name and location changes, the Pride Center has hosted a slew of events for different causes and weeks, such as Queer History Month, Pride Week and National Coming Out Day.

It was born, however, into a former closet in the Women's Building.

PICTURED: Cassady Gilroy, acting center director of Ettihad Cultural Center. Gilroy says the ECC is a beautiful place to come in and make new friends.

a conversation with

Cassady Gilroy IN 2009, Cassady Gilroy arrived at Oregon State University as an international student. 13 years later, he is the new acting center director of the Ettihad Cultural Center, serving students in similar shoes to himself a decade earlier. Like most of the students who form the ECC community, Gilroy comes from a diverse heritage. “My dad’s American. He was born in Portland, Ore.,” he explained. “My mom is from a country called Sri Lanka though, which is a small island off the coast of India.” Gilroy lived in Sri Lanka until age 18, when he came to Oregon for college. Gilroy reminisced humorously that he overlooked visiting the ECC during his time as a student, busy with his work as a resident assistant in the dorms.

“I really should have because it would have helped a lot,” he laughed. Once he graduated, Gilroy worked for INTO OSU, a university partnership program, to increase the number of international students at Oregon State. This is where he first gained experience working with international students of a diverse background, helping them practice English. He noted that his own heritage helped him gain a “natural affinity” for working with international students. Gilroy is now ready to apply this “natural affinity” as the new acting center director of the Ettihad Cultural Center. “This is truly a beautiful place to just come in, relax, make some new friends,” he said. “My main message is that we are here for you and we are ready to just have some fun and make new connections.”

'A source of connection and belonging' WRITER:

ABHEER SINGH

PHOTOGRAPHER:

HAILEY KNAPP

LEFT TO RIGHT: The bookshelf in the Ettihad Cultural Center is available to all students to use. A garland of flowers hangs across the entrance of the center. The center includes spaces for students to sit and relax as well as tables for studying.

EN YEARS ago, Oregon State’s Ettihad Cultural Center was established out of tragedy.

Originally a student organization, the ECC was founded in the spring of 2012 as a response to the murders of Trayvon Martin and Shaima Alawadi. Despite this sorrowful catalyst, the center was named in the spirit of unity, as “Ettihad” translates to “unity” or “alliance” in a variety of languages, such as Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu, according to the Diversity and Cultural Engagement website. Since then, the ECC has become an important cultural resource center for students. It represents a wide range of communities, stretching from Africa to Central and South Asia. Over the past decade, the center has provided support to students in several ways. According to acting center director Cassady Gilroy, the ECC has three primary responsibilities. The first two responsibilities are community

building and academic success. The center achieves this through its numerous studentled events every year, as well as being a conveniently located and quiet study location. The spring Ettihad Cultural Festival is a popular example of a community-building event. The ECC web page summarizes the festival as a celebration of “the immense diversity of the Ettihad community through music, dance, art, performances, traditional dress and amazing food.” “It’s a very communal event,” Gilroy said. “It's known across Corvallis, and even we have folks from Eugene and other parts of Oregon that come down just to see it.” The third responsibility of the ECC is more delicate. Gilroy explained that during challenging times for students, the Ettihad Cultural center acts as “a space on campus that they can go to to feel like they have a sense of belonging.” Gilroy cites the current protests in Iran as an example of such a situation. He said that for some students, “It’s their first

time here at OSU, they haven’t really met folks, all their friends and family are back in Iran.” This is when the community at the ECC can “be there as a source of comfort” or “just a source to listen,” according to Gilroy. In October of 2014, the center moved into its first of two homes on campus, Snell Hall 424. Less than a year later, in the spring of 2015, the ECC relocated to its second and current home which is on the third floor of the Student Experience Center. The current location features a computer lab, quiet space, video games and even a library. Colorful art and decor can be seen all around the center, showcasing many cultures the ECC represents. The Ettihad Cultural Center has seen immense growth since its inception over a decade ago. Gilroy emphasized that the primary purpose of the center will always remain the same: To be a “source of connection and belonging for students on this campus—that would be the goal no matter how long Ettihad is here.”

CATEGORY

1 5

7 2

1. ASIAN & PACIFIC CULTURAL CENTER

2. CENTRO CULTURAL CÉSAR CHÁVEZ

3. ETTIHAD CULTURAL CENTER

4. HATTIE REDMOND WOMEN & GENDER CENTER

5. KAKU-IXT M INA HAWS

2695 SW Jefferson Way Corvallis, OR 97331

691 SW 26th St Corvallis, OR 97331

380 Student Experience Center 2251 SW Jefferson Way Corvallis, OR 97331

1700 SW Pioneer Place Corvallis, OR 97331

311 SW 26th St. Corvallis, OR 973

email: apcc@oregonstate.edu

email: cccc@oregonstate.edu

email: hr.wgc@oregonstate.edu

email: ina.haws@orego

hours: M-TH: 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. F: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

hours: M-TH: 10 a.m. - 6pm F: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

hours: M-TH: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. F: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

hours: M-TH: 10a.m. - 7 F: 10 a.m. - 11 a. noon - 5 p.m.

email: ettihad@oregonstate.edu hours: M-TH: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. F: 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

The events below are cultural events presented by various OSU cultural clubs and funded by Experiential Learning and Activities.

WINTER 2023 JAN

TAIWANESE NIGHT Taiwanese Student Association

JAN

CHINA NIGHT Chinese Students and Scholars Association

FEB

INDO NIGHT PERMIAS

FEB

KHMER NIGHT Cambodian Student Association

MAR

APASU PRESENTS Asian Pacifc American Student Union

MAR

VSA’S 51ST CULTURE SHOW Vietnamese Student Association

MAR

HMONG NIGHT Hmong Club

20 27 17 25 As of Nov. 1, 2022, the Pride Center has been relocated to the Student Experience Center, SEC 112, until center renovations are finished. To read more about Pride Center renovations, please visit page 40.

map

MANA

7331

6. LONNIE B. HARRIS BLACK CULTURAL CENTER

7. PRIDE CENTER & SOL

100 SW Memorial Place Corvallis, OR 97331

112 Student Experience Center 2251 SW Jefferson Way Corvallis, OR 97331

nstate.edu

email: bcc@oregonstate.edu

7p.m. .m. &

hours: M-TH: 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. F: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

email: pride.center@oregonstate.edu hours: M, W & TH: 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. T & F: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

04 11

SPRING 2023 APR

J-NIGHT Japanese Student Association

APR

INDIA NIGHT Indian Student Association

APR

HŌ’IKE Hui ‘O Hawai’i

MAY

AFRICA NIGHT African Student Association

MAY

PILIPINO CULTURE NIGHT Isang Bansang Pilipino

MAY

CULTURE SHOCK Asian Pacifc American Student Union

JUN

LEYOU NIGHT Chinese Students and Scholars Association

15 22 29 06 13 27 02

WRITER:

NATALIE SHARP PHOTOGRAPHER:

GRACE JOHNSON

ABOVE: Julia Rankin tends to plants resting on a window shelf inside the Hattie Redmond Women and Gender Center on Oct. 5, 2022 in Corvallis, Ore. RIGHT: Students in the library room of the Women and Gender Center. The library room is a peaceful area to indulge in a wide selection of educational books.

S THE Women and Gender Center and the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program both approach their 50th anniversary, now becomes a good time for reflection. Student workers at the Women's Center are reconnecting with their past to uncover the history of the center and better understand the present to do better in the future. 50 years is a lot of time to build up history in one building. In 1973, they were given a building that had plans to be demolished as the old Paleontology, Chemistry, and Station building. This is now the second oldest building on campus. Jeanne Dost, who founded the center and program, convinced university administration to turn the building over to the Women's Center. However, rather than giving it a formal title, the university decided to label it as the Benton Annex. It wasn't until campus protests in 2018 to change racist and problematic building names that the Women's Center got to claim an official title. The name change to Hattie Redmond was an intentional choice to reflect the work the center has done to be more gender and racially-inclusive. Hattie Redmond was a Black suffragist living in Oregon at a time when Black people weren't allowed to live in-state. Her legacy now lives on in the center. “I love to imagine the stories in these walls,” Whitney Archer, WGC center director, said.

RIGHT: The outside of the Hattie Redmond Women and Gender Center on Oct. 5, 2022 in Corvallis, Ore. The center is the second oldest building on the OSU campus.

Throughout the year, there will be celebratory events hosted through the center and the program, with a joint celebration in early January not yet revealed. In addition, each event they have will be viewed through the lens of the anniversary and highlight what that means to them. The start of the center and the program are so intertwined as they were birthed from the same building. The program has now taken a life of its own, but will always remain intertwined with the center. There is a relationship and commitment between the work that their program does and the center to make a change. Much like the center, the degree started out as women's studies but was changed around 11 years ago to be called Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies to accurately reflect the history and commitment of the work they were already doing, in light of the queer studies program and other evolving processes. Classes across the WGSS discipline have often focused in on queer rights, the rights of trans folk, women of color and of those with Indigenous two-spirit identities. Looking to the future, Qwo-Li Driskill, assistant professor in the WGSS program, expressed hope to continue to see the programs grow with more majors and minors, but also hopes to see a wider recognition of all the work the people do in the program, both students and faculty. “The program has ties all over campus that often go unnoticed,” Driskill said. Archer hopes to see the center continue to grow in nuanced ways and evolve based on the students it is serving. “I hope that in 50 years from now more students find community at OSU and that the cultural center is a part of that,” Archer said.

2015, Corvallis and Portland recognized Indigenous People’s Day—two years before Oregon formally designated it as a state holiday to be celebrated on the second Monday of October. This groundbreaking resolution passed entirely because of the collective efforts of folks at the Ina Haws in partnership with the City of Corvallis.

made in our community by Indigenous People and commits to ensure greater access and opportunity for continued contribution.” “One of the things we like to talk about is to not forget how powerful your words can be,” Whitebear explained. Being in a community and having conversations about change can lead to bigger things, Whitebear said.

Corvallis lies on the homelands of the Kalapuya people, made up of several distinct Indigenous tribes who were the first residents of the Willamette Valley. The idea of Indigenous People’s Day was first proposed in 1977 by a delegation of Native Nations to the United Nations. According to Ina Haws Center Director Luhui Whitebear, center student staff members William Miller and Matt Williams noticed that other cities had been resolving to pass Indigenous People’s Day and wondered why Corvallis had not done it.

“That partnership has been between the Ina Haws and the City of Corvallis ever since,” Whitebear said. “The Ina Haws has been helping provide the program piece of it, and then Mayor Traber’s team has been drafting the proclamation, going over if it needs to be updated and doing the public signing here on campus during the programming.” INDIGENOUS

PEOPLE’S DAY IS OFTEN CONSIDERED A COUNTER-HOLIDAY TO COLUMBUS DAY, AND THAT’S VERY MUCH WHAT IT IS. IT’S THAT RECOGNITION OF, WHY ARE WE CELEBRATING GENOCIDE?

- LUHUI WHITEBEAR,

This year marked the second time OSU hosted a national speaker for Indigenous People’s Day—that speaker being Michael Benitez Jr, a scholar and educator in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education.

“We were like, INA HAWS CENTER DIRECTOR yeah, why hasn’t Corvallis done that “His ancestors yet?” Whitebear were among some said. “That’s of the first that how casual of a were impacted conversation it was. They started reaching by the arrival of Europeans, too, in the out to the City of Corvallis about the Carribeans,” Whitebear said. “If we think possibility of getting it recognized here. about Tiano people and Arawak people Those efforts led to Corvallis and Portland as that first point of contact with Columbus' being the first two cities in Oregon to crew, I think that is something we haven’t recognize Indigenous People’s Day through really touched on as a campus or as a a city proclamation.” center or city. Oftentimes, folk from those areas are framed as being from the Latinx On Oct. 12, 2015, Corvallis Mayor Biff community, which [they] in many ways are, Traber signed a proclamation at the Native but also are Indigenous people.” American Longhouse Eena Haws at Oregon State University. The Taíno and Arawak are Indigenous peoples of Puerto Rico, Whitebear noted. “The City of Corvallis and current day Benton County was historically inhabited “Attend any events and take the time to by the Kalapuya people,” the proclamation learn about Indigenous people more states. “The City of Corvallis recognizes and broadly, especially the people whose acknowledges the significant contributions lands folk are studying, living on, or

where their hometowns are,” Whitebear said. “Indigenous People’s Day is often considered a counter-holiday to Columbus Day, and that’s very much what it is. It’s that recognition of, why are we celebrating genocide?” She said it will be interesting to see if the U.S. ever permanently removes Columbus Day from being a national holiday. Whitebear recommends the Native Land website for folks trying to get an idea of whose land they are on. “One of the other things I like about it is it shows overlapping territories and movements,” Whitebear said. “A lot of times people think there’s only one people from an area when that’s not always the case. They do have some errors, including the Corvallis area having spelling errors of the Api’nefu people.”

ILLUSTRATION: An illustration portraying Ina Haws in Corvallis, Ore. on Oregon State University’s campus. Ina Haws was first established in the form of the Native American Longhouse in 1973.

WRITER:

SUKHJOT SAL ILLUSTRATOR:

H. BECK

in corvallis:

the power of casual conversation and student advocacy in passing a historic resolution

Following student advocacy, ASOSU makes space for International Student Lounge

N UNFREQUENTED room atop the Memorial Union stairs at Oregon State University may be just the place for international students to find community and a place to decompress.

PICTURED: Cameo Perrells (She/Her) is the president of the Disabled Student’s Union. She is an interior design major that is hoping to make the world a more accessible place for everyone. Cameo and her fellow club members are advocating for the creation of a Diabled student cultural center, but have been told they may only be allowed a temporary student lounge.

The ASOSU International Lounge is piloting this year in MU room 115, just left of the MU main lounge. ASOSU President Mateo Paola said he hopes this center can provide not only a place for international students to feel at home, but also a place for them to share their experiences with other students. The lounge originally existed in the Student Experience Center, but has since been moved, following a reallocation of funding through ASOSU. Paola made room for the lounge — paired with a disabled students lounge — on the yearly funding docket, after hearing that international students needed a safe place, especially given turmoil in Iran and Ukraine that impact many students at OSU. Following a lengthy process for the lounge to be approved, ASOSU officials signed off on the center. The hope is to hire student staff in the lounge and to eventually host events geared towards the needs and wants of international students on campus. “If those students from that community are wanting to see something then they should be bringing it to us so that we can take note of that,” Paola said. “As this expands, we will make sure that we’re including that.” The lounge will have an official open house Nov. 16 from 10:30 a.m. from 1 p.m. in MU room 115.

WRITER:

ADRIANA GUTIERREZ

“YOU NEED YOUR OW

PERMANENT SPAC

DISABLED STUDENT LOUNGE TO RUN AS PILOT PRO WRITER:

EMMA COKE

PHOTOGRAPHER:

DUANE KNAPP

WN CE: ”

OGRAM

CROSS THE ountry, 11 colleges and universities already have disability cultural centers, with the closest one to Oregon State University being at the University of Washington in Seattle. However, this will soon change. Last May, the Associated Students of Oregon State University announced they began working towards establishing a pilot program for a disability cultural center, after allocating funds for it during their fee setting process back in winter term 2022. According to ASOSU President Matteo Paola, $62,000 was allocated towards the disabled student lounge in addition to establishing an international student lounge. The funds will be directed towards student workers to staff the centers, programming, events and sectional space. Last year, MU 115 in the Memorial Union was offered as a potential room to host the disabled student lounge, however the MU is not easily accessible due to the multiple floors according to DSU President Cameo Perrells. “It's extremely inaccessible and inconvenient,” Perrells said. “For people like myself, who use wheelchairs, members of our club who have sensory processing and for members who are visually impaired.” Additionally, that room would have been shared with the international student lounge. “I don't think that's reasonable for any of the groups to have to share space and then kind of draw a line in the middle and say, ‘This is yours, this is ours.’ And for someone like me, using a wheelchair, people aren't familiar with my access needs and it's not my job to teach anybody other than the people that I involve myself with every day,” Perrels said. “If it was shared with other people, it would get uncomfortable and it's a space where I should relax and not have to educate anyone who comes by.” As it stands right now, ASOSU is still in the process of finding a space to host the disabled student lounge. “We're just gonna be doing the research and programming and events that we can without a dedicated space,” Paola said. “So we'll just be like reserving spaces in the MU or Student Experience Center, on an as-needed basis as we do events. I think it's pretty unlikely that we're gonna get a space this year for that.”

ASOSU’s decision to go forth with establishing the pilot program stems from years of advocacy work from students, especially within the last two or three years after the founding of the Disabled Students Union, an on-campus club aimed at supporting and creating community for disabled students at OSU, according to Kathleen Bogart, director of the Disability and Social Interaction Lab at OSU. While OSU does have Disability Access Services, DAS focuses on academic accommodations. According to DAS Director Martha Smith, DAS is not a resource center and is not funded to support students in the ways a resource or cultural center would be able to. This leaves many students lacking the support they need. In the proposal for a disability cultural center, ASOSU cited that more than 10% of college students have some sort of disability but only onethird will graduate within eight years of enrollment due to a lack of support. “I think people might think that we don't need a lounge or cultural center because we have the DAS, but that's for academics,” Perrells said. “That's not for social or community.” A place centered around fostering community is more capable of providing the additional support an academic service such as DAS is unable to provide. “This is a really powerful burgeoning movement where people are starting to recognize that there's strength in this community and we have pride in this community and this identity,” Bogart said. Even though the disabled student lounge is currently a pilot program, there are plans to make it permanent in the future. Currently, ASOSU will be conducting research and needs assessments to see “what it is they're looking for, like what encourages people to show up and what people would like to see out of their space,” Paola said. This data will help in establishing a permanent cultural or resource center for disabled students. “To have a strong cultural center, you need your own permanent space, right,” Bogart said. “You need to know that your community has a comfortable place to go that's their own, that won't be taken away—that they can go and find others like them and maybe find resources.”

PRIDE CENTER

SOL

FROM WITHIN THE

BRIGHTENING CAMPUS

WRITER:

GINNIE SANDOVAL PHOTOGRAPHER:

ASHTON BISNER & SABRINA DEDEK

OR THE past 18 years, SOL: LGBTQ+ Multicultural Support Network, which translates to sun, has been brightening our campus by offering a safe place and familial atmosphere for queer and trans people of color.

SOL: SUN While people may believe SOL is an acronym, that is not the case. According to the SOL website, the name is a metaphor. In languages like Spanish and Portuguese, the word SOL translates to sun. “Moreover, the sun’s rays are used to make a prominent symbol of the LGBTQ+ community: the rainbow. Like the sun, SOL: LGBTQ+ Multicultural Support Network is intended to brighten our campus by improving its climate,” the website stated. SOL BEGINNINGS The idea for SOL was first brought up in 2002 by graduate student Derron Coles, a gay Black student who transferred from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to Oregon State University for his Master’s and Ph.D. studies. In a 2019 interview found in OSU’s Special Collections & Archived Resource Center, Coles said that for most of his life, he had always felt the effects of his sexual orientation, but upon his arrival at OSU, as one of the only Black men in most of his classes, he felt the effects of both his sexual orientation and race. At OSU, Coles said he had just started coming out to people. He felt comfortable enough because the college offered him a community through the Queer Resource Center. He came out expecting that he would be welcomed and included among individuals like himself. However, Coles said he began to experience unexpected microaggressions within the gay community, even when

trying to participate in Pride Week, all leading up to an incident where he was called a racial slur by a gay white man whom he had considered a friend. It was at that point he knew that things had to change and he had to do something to protect future students from going through what he did. In 2004, Coles was able to get SOL recognized as an official student organization at OSU, but he still needed funding. In 2006, he brought his proposal to Larry Roper, a now-retired OSU professor, who at the time was the vice provost for Student Affairs. In an interview with Dr. Roper, he stated that he immediately agreed and began funding the organization because he understood there was a unique need to have a place within the Pride Center that represented the QTPOC community and promoted diversity and inclusivity. SOL 20 YEARS LATER It’s been nearly 20 years since then, and SOL has grown substantially as LGBTQ+ Multicultural Support Network within the Pride Center. Although SOL is hosted in the Pride Center, students can find SOL liaisons in each of the seven Cultural Centers. Julian Clarke, a leadership liaison for SOL, said there are many ways students can connect within the LGBTQ+ Support Network. SOL serves as a bridge between queer spaces and other cultural centers, so anyone wanting to inquire about SOL or the Pride Center can do so through any one of these liaisons.

LEFT: Julian Clarke and Kailea Warouw, leadership liaisons for SOL: Multicultural Support Network, in front of the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center. The SOL website states that like the sun, SOL intends to brighten the OSU campus by improving its climate. NEXT PAGE: Sitting at Interzone Cafe on 16th and Monroe Avenue, Clarke sits for a photo on Oct. 15.

Clarke said a person walking into SOL will find that it has a laid-back and familial atmosphere and is a very diverse space with people of different backgrounds and identities. Upon visiting SOL at the Pride Center, a student will find friendly workspaces, a library area, a sensory section in the corner and a space to hang out and play some

“

BLACK PEOPLE MAY NOT FEEL COMFORTABLE BEING QUEER BECAUSE OF THE VIOLENCE THAT HAPPENS IN OUR COMMUNITIES FREQUENTLY THROUGH POLICE VIOLENCE OR THROUGH VIOLENCE WITH MISOGYNY AND TRANSPHOBIA AND HOMOPHOBIA. DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES MAY FEEL LIKE THEY MIGHT BE OUTCASTED IF PEOPLE FIND OUT.

”

- JULIAN CL ARKE, LEADERSHIP LIAISON FOR SOL Mario-Kart. There is also a Really Free Closet that offers anything from books to clothing. If a student is hesitant to come in person, SOL has a huge online presence through their Facebook and Instagram, as well as a Podcast called “Between Identities” and a newsletter in the works that will keep students up to date on all SOL activities. There are also opportunities to attend regular events organized by or done in collaboration with SOL. WHAT SOL STANDS FOR “There is a lot of adversity within racial minorities because of historical impressions,” Clarke said. “They’ve been implemented on us because of colonialism. Black people may not feel comfortable being queer because of the violence that happens in

our communities frequently through police violence or through violence with misogyny and transphobia and homophobia. Different communities may feel like they might be outcasted if people find out.” Clarke said SOL will frequently see situations where a student from a minority background, who comes to OSU with friends and family back home rooting for their success, is afraid that they will lose everything if they are outed or caught in the Pride Center. To those people, Clarke stressed that SOL is here for them. Their goal is to make sure each student feels completely safe, and that they have a safe place to explore their different identities with others who are exploring theirs as well.

PUMPKIN: puppy love at the pride center WRITER:

TAYLOR BACON

N NEED of some golden sunshine? Visit the Pride Center located on the first floor of the Student Experience Center on Tuesdays to meet Pumpkin, the therapy dog in the Pride Center.

Pumpkin is a 6-year-old Golden Retriever who has been working at the Pride Center every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for nearly a year. Her owner, Elizabeth Kennedy, works here at Oregon State University as the director of Gender Based Prevention and collaborates with the Director of the Pride Center Cindy Konrad, who suggested Pumpkin come in.

ALL: Pumpkin, Pride Center therapy dog; Elizabeth Kennedy, Pumpkin’s owner; and Cindy Konrad, Pride Center director sitting together on the couch at the OSU Pride Center in SEC 112. Kennedy said Pumpkin’s innate gift for spreading love and affection made her a natural support dog.

Kennedy, who has had Pumpkin since she was six weeks old, calls Pumpkin a natural and a “love bug.” “She really loves people and has since she was a baby. When I met her at six

PHOTOGRAPHER:

ALEX OZERAN

weeks, she came up to me and just layed in my lap, she’s always loved people,” said Kennedy. As soon as you walk into the center, Pumpkin eagerly runs over and greets everyone with a tail wag and a lick hello. If you’re still not convinced to go visit this ray of sunshine, there are many benefits of petting dogs including an increase in serotonin and without judgment, according to Konrad. “Mostly her job here is to provide love and companionship, non-judgmental love and support, she is just gonna love you however you show up everyday,” Kennedy said. If you’re ever feeling down and in need of some puppy love, the Pride Center has just the solution for that, and so does Pumpkin.

‘COMMITMENT

TO ACTIVISM:’ H O W A L AW S U I T P I O N E E R E D A N E W O S U P R O G R A M WRITER:

NATALIE SHARP

REGON STATE University’s Hattie Redmond Women and Gender Center, formerly known as the Women’s Center, was founded in 1973, by Jeanne Dost, a women's rights advocate and professor at Oregon State University. After getting her Masters of Arts and Ph.D. from Harvard, working as a Havard research assistant, instructor of economics at Kansas State and then teaching graduate-level courses at the University of Washington, Dost and her husband came to OSU for jobs offered in their respective academic fields. Jeanne was assigned to teach introductory classes as a part-time professor. However, when a full-time position opened, the job was given to a man working on his master's and was only offered to her after he declined. She spoke out about this treatment and was fired. After that, she filed a lawsuit that initially lost and then was deemed as clear discrimination by the Bureau of Labor Civil Rights in an appeal of the same suit. It is believed that it was in this settlement that the Women’s Center and women’s studies program were born. Jeanne started as both the director of the women's center and the director of the Womens Studies Program. During her time at OSU, she continued to push for change and grew the program until it offered a graduate degree. “The space really grew out of her own experiences of sex discrimination at OSU,”

ILLUSTRATOR:

TERESA AGUILERA

Whitney Archer said, center director for the Wome and Gender Center. The original focus of the center according to archival research, is that it was centered on creating space for women on campus to talk about gender equality as well working to name sexism and come together to organize and affirm people's patriarchal experiences. This was all happening in the landscape of Title IX and other women's rights movements around the country. The classes offered in the Women’s Studies Program centered around sexism in society and women’s oppression. Jeanne retired in 1991 and it became clear that the program director and center director needed to be in two separate positions. In making new hires, the two programs split ways, armed with different goals. The Women’s Studies Program, now Women Gender and Sexuality

ILLUSTRATIONS: The WGSS program and Hattie Redmond Women and Gender Center have been an integral part of OSU history for providing opportunities and advocacy for women-identifying and non-binary students. This illustration highlights and honors these foundations.

Studies program, has quickly grown to have a major, minor, master, graduate degree, queer studies minor and P.h.D. program.

Whitney Archer

leads with ‘quiet guidance and leadership’

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WRITER:

NATALIE SHARP

JUST GETTING people together is radical.” Whitney Archer, the current director of the Hattie Redmond Women and Gender Center, said this while reflecting on the eight years they’ve worked here. Archer received their graduate degree from Oregon State University and coming from a small undergraduate university, they initially felt that OSU was “too huge” to stick around. However, after doing an internship with the center, they found a love for the work and realized that “helping folks not feel so isolated in a place that feels so giant, is what kept me here and is what continues to keep me here,” Archer said. Archer's main roles as the center director revolve around listening to and supporting students. They also work to be in connection with resources across campus in order to act as a reference to assist students. In addition, they serve on numerous committees on campus to advocate for students like the faculty senate, the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence and the Sexual Health Advocacy and Response Group. They also serve as an associate professor for the Diversity and Cultural Engagement department where they continue to support students. Since taking the position as center director eight years ago, Archer has continued to grow the space, work

LEFT: Whitney Archer on the red couch inside of the Hattie Redmond Women and Gender Center on Oct. 5 2022 in Corvallis, Ore. The center is named after Harriet “Hattie” Redmond, a Black woman and leader in the long struggle for Oregon women’s suffrage movement.

PHOTOGRAPHER:

GRACE JOHNSON

toward centering racial justice, expand the scope of a gender lens and build community year after year. They were responsible for reaching out to the student protestors to get the center's name changed to more accurately reflect the work they are doing. “I have really tried to listen to students and colleagues to help the space be as inclusive as possible,” Archer said. Since starting, Archer has felt a change in themselves from wanting this space to be fully centered on activism to realizing the power of joy. Looking to the future, Archer hopes the center can continue to be a space of community, growth and transformation. They emphasized how in order to transform and change our campus, we must also be willing to transform ourselves. “Whitney is really good at providing quiet guidance and leadership,” said Hazel Curley O’Malley, a student employee who works closely with Archer. The center provides weekly “crafternoons,” or future inclusive game nights, both of which Archer hopes will bring in new faces. The women of color initiative, AYA, also hosts its bi-weekly meetings in the center. “I want to continue to be transformed by my work here and have [it] spread throughout campus and beyond,” Archer said.

The courses in these programs analyze the history and patterns of how systems of power function in order to effectively change them to better serve marginalized communities. These courses teach critical thinking skills, how to turn theory into practice and how to engage with the world differently. “There should be value in an education for the sake of having an educated public,” said Qwo-Li Drillskill, WGSS professor. Driskill has been at OSU for 11 years and was responsible for the creation of the queer studies minor. People with these degrees can be used all in careers working to help public good such as social work, public policy and human rights activism. The work of WGSS students and faculty involved in other campus programs often go unnoticed, Driskill said. They pointed to how students of queer studies are prominent in the Corvallis drag scene, institutional change work, work at the cultural center, work with the Office of Equity and Inclusion and have helped shift conversations around campus. If you look at social justice groups on campus, you’re likely to find a WGSS student, Driskill said. “There is a commitment to activism and practice throughout this work,” Driskill said.

Despite their split in 1992, the center and the program still have a lot of ties with an ongoing commitment between the two. “We can't tell one story without the other,” Archer said. “The work that’s happening in WGSS classrooms directly informs what is happening in the center.” Similar to the evolution of the program, the center has also transformed as times have changed and feminist movements have evolved. Despite the center’s aim to have diverse people working and creating there, a lot of its initial focus was on white women's issues and working toward gender equality on campus. However, by listening to students and paying attention to the rest of the world, the center's goals have transformed over the years. Now, they work to center racial justice and women of color. It is home to AYA, a women of color support group, a masculinity initiative and gender-inclusive work. “The women's center title no longer matches the work we were doing,” Archer said. The needs this center has met continue to evolve. The center has offered counseling services for people who’ve experienced rape and sexual assault. Archer said they still provide support to survivors and will help refer survivors to the right resources.

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We can't tell one story without the other. The work that’s happening in WGSS classrooms directly informs what is happening in the center. - WHITNEY ARCHER, WGC DIRECTOR

“It is a place of validation and affirmation,” Archer said. Since its start, the center has worked to meet a need on campus by being a safe space for students to get support, find community and create change across campus. Many initiatives have used the space to better the community. For example, the Pride Center started out of the center in what is now their library. Students have led the charge in the center's evolution over time and most recently this summer the student employees spent time working on creating a new list of values that

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accurately align with the current center's mission. They decided upon: • Community • Advocacy • Growth

Student employee Hazel Currley O’Malley said her favorite part of working in the center is being able to work in a socially active environment and be in connection with the other cultural centers that share that same feel. “The sense of belonging people have found here over the years doesn’t fit in an annual report,” Archer said.

WRITER:

SUKHJOT SAL PHOTOGRAPHER:

JESS HUME-PANTUSO

Being able to teach and work in a center is really powerful:’

Luhui Whitebear on being first tenure-track center director

HE NUMBER of Indigenous tenure-track faculty members on Oregon State University’s campus is in the single digits. Even more rare? A tenure-track faculty member who is also a center director. Ina Haws Center Director Luhui Whitebear is an assistant professor of Indigenous Studies in the School of Language, Culture and Society, and in May 2022, she was hired for tenure track alongside two colleagues. “There weren't any tenure-track Indigenous women for a while, either,” Whitebear said. “For me and Dr. Patricia Fifita to come on as Indigenous women that are tenure-track was pretty significant, too. All three of us were brought in as a cluster hire—me, Dr. Fifita and Dr. David Lewis—we got pulled in together because of the Indigenous Studies minor.” Tenure track, Whitebear explained, is a full-time faculty position where the university allows someone to remain part of the permanent teaching staff until they want to leave. “A lot of times, Cultural Resource Centers are not looked at as places of learning, as knowledge production, when in fact they are very much places where a lot of the

theory that’s being talked about in classes are being embodied in various ways,” Whitebear said. “For me, being able to teach and work in a center is really powerful because it’s helping weave those two things together,” Whitebear said. “It’s helping highlight that they are spaces of learning and it’s allowing me to continue to do research that OSU views as needing to happen. If somebody is tenure-track, that’s because your research profile or what you're working on is viewed as something that will contribute to OSU’s future, as far as producing scholarship.” There is a huge split between academic and student affairs, according to Whitebear.

“It’s not necessarily a bad thing that there’s two different focuses, but oftentimes, the work is looked at as separate, when in fact it can be a combination of the two,” she explained. “To be able to now try to have this path with the Centers has shown what is possible and it’s a beautiful agreement between Diversity and Cultural Engagement and the SCLS.” Having a full time Graduate Teaching Assistant has allowed Whitebear to maintain this dual role as professor and director. “If you think about how many faculty that are tenure track, that’s not very many, and I know who they all are,” Whitebear said. “It’s great that we all know each other, but it’s such a small percentage. I think that as OSU continues to increase its number of Indigenous tenure-track faculty and the commitment to being a land-grant institution and the responsibilities that come with that towards Indigenous people and tribal nations.” Whitebear said it was really important to her to see if this model could work, to set a precedent for other center directors in the future, not just for SLCS but perhaps other academic units as well. “I hope that it sets a precedent and a model that can be used in the future, especially for Indigenous spaces, that they’re viewed

“It’s helping highlight that they are spaces of learning and it’s allowing me to continue to do research that OSU views as needing to happen.” - LUHUI WHITEBEAR, INA HAWS CENTER DIRECTOR, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF INDIGENOUS STUDIES

LEFT: Luhui Whitebear is center director of the Ina Haws and assistant professor of Indigenous Studies. Whitebear is the first tenuretrack center director at OSU. BELOW: Pictured is the entrance to the Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws. Whitebear teaches some of her classes in the center itself.

as places of learning and knowledge production, because a lot of the time Indigenous knowledge is viewed as other, or alternative, and not looked at as central,” Whitebear said. “That’s part of the reason why I like teaching in the Ina Haws because it helps center the space itself as a space of learning and it changes the way people view these spaces.” Some of the classes Whitebear teaches include a section of Introduction to Native American Studies for the munk-skukum learning-living community students — which is also open to students outside of the LLC, but is designed for that LLC in particular.

The munk-skukum Indigenous community offers a residential space for students to explore cultural identity and learn more about the lands on which they reside, according to the University Housing and Dining website. She also teaches the Native American law and policy class, decolonizing feminist methodologies, arts and social justice, Native American philosophies, and two classes she is currently proposing: Indigenous feminisms and Indigenous resistance and pop culture.

LONG-ANTICIPATED RENOVATIONS

NEARLY UNDERWAY TO OSU’S

WRITER:

GINNIE SANDOVAL PHOTOGRAPHER:

ASHTON BISNER

RIGHT: The Pride Center on Oct. 17 in Corvallis, Ore. on Oregon State University campus. This photo is illustrated to symbolize the renovations of the Pride Center coming in the near future.

many of the aspects from each design went into the final decisions. From this, students were not only included in the renovation decisions but they were also able to gain some professional experience they could take with them after they graduated.

The entrances will also be wide enough to allow smooth access between the inside and outside of the center, including the community garden which will be expanded with some raised garden beds and more space for variety.

The Pride Center has always welcomed students of all kinds and made sure they feel included in every way. When first considering the renovations, the center wanted to make sure student’s voices would be heard, and had a say in what took place with the renovations.

FUNDING AND CONSTRUCTION Although some of the renovations to the Pride Center are being covered by studentfee dollars, there wasn’t any new money asked from students. Most of the funding was divided among the offices of Student Affairs, Inclusion & Engagement, Student Experiences & Engagement and Diversity & Cultural Engagement.

INSIDE RENOVATIONS Coming in, students will notice how spacious each of the individual areas are. The space in the building will have more of an open concept to account for wheelchair accessibility as well as an added bathroom that will be ADA-compliant. They will notice areas such as the kitchen, living room, library and hangout areas have also expanded.

INCE 2001, the Pride Center, once known as the Queer Resource Center, has been a safe place for all members of the LGBTQ+ community. Since then, it has grown significantly and has added many resources over the years as well as broadened the ones always offered.

RENOVATION DECISIONS When deciding on the design, as the center was working with architects, it was also working with students. Focus groups and needs assessments were held with students and staff where they were asked questions like surrounding what they wanted out of the space and what was important to them. From this, what students decided was most important was that they had a space that was physically accessible, that was flexible enough to use each space for different purposes, and that had a warm and inviting atmosphere. Another way students were included in the renovation decisions was by connecting an Interior Design class in the College of Business with the architects working on the project. These students were asked to form groups and come up with their own designs for the Pride Center. The designs were then presented to the project committee and architects. In the end,

Amy Keene, who deals with the design and construction aspect of the renovations, said the OSU contracting guideline for design and construction projects will be followed. When it came to choosing an architect, the Director of Capital Project Delivery and the Campus Architect decided to partner with DECA Architecture for their design and engineering services.

Konrad said the kitchen will be going from a space just big enough to fit one or two people at the same time, to a layout that flows easier and will allow students to cook together without feeling crowded. The kitchen will also open up to the covered patio and dining hall for added flexibility between one area and another.

DECA Architecture was originally considered back in 2006 when preliminary planning for the Pride Center but ultimately didn’t go through. Keene said with DECA on the project, she was “glad they were able to come back and see it through to full fruition.”

Another added room will be known as the Quiet Room. This room can be used as a space to meditate, decompress, and hold one on one meetings between students and the representatives from any of the resources offered.

RENOVATIONS TO THE BUILDING With these new renovations, the Pride Center will be adding some much-needed flexibility to both the building itself and the spaces within. To achieve this, according to Cindy Konrad, center director for the Pride Center and SOL: Multicultural Support Network, the building is adding 1000 square feet.

One of the biggest changes is that, in addition to a living room, there will be an added family room. The family room will be a large space for students to gather together in a very comfortable and cozy atmosphere but will also be flexible enough to be converted into a large space for meetings and gatherings.

With this additional space, students will see significant and positive accommodations inside and outside of the building. One of the most notable changes to the center will be easier accessibility for students with disabilities. They are taking away stairs and adding new ramps leading up to the front of the entrance. These ramps will have less of an incline and will welcome all students to access the building in the same way. Another notable change will be the porch and the covered patio. Konrad spoke about how these new additions will allow students to enjoy being outside, even in Oregon weather, and will be large enough to host gatherings and events.

RENOVATION TIMELINE As of right now, renovations should be starting anytime. All the permits are in place and the last piece is just getting the contractor under contract. Konrad hopes and estimates that the renovations will be finished by the fall of 2023 and until then, the Pride Center will continue to be hosted within the Student Experience Center. A SAFE SPACE FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY Even with so much change happening, students will still find familiarity among all aspects of the Pride Center. It will still connect and partner with all the other Cultural Resource Centers and continue to complement each other.

E'D LIKE to

thank everyone at the Cultural Resource Centers for working with us to produce this beautiful magazine. We are beyond grateful to you all for sharing your time, resources and knowledge with us to create a publication that memorializes the Centers’ legacies and hopes for the future. Thank you so much.

- BEAVER’S DIGEST STAFF