Millions of dollars are spent on cultural centers, why not improve the entire system?Wouldn't it be nice to have one place where everyone feels equal? 

I believe in culture. I was born in Germany, have a Swiss Passport, lived in London and have visited Africa, France, and Mexico. While I haven’t been everywhere, I've had to adapt to many different types of cultures over the period of my short life. 

If there’s one thing I've learned, it’s that people have a hard time dealing with change. When I moved to London from the U.S., they made fun of me for being a “dumb American.” When I moved back to the U.S., people made fun of me for having a British accent!

Being different is difficult, but being surrounded by a culture that is predominantly one race/ethnicity that isn’t the same as yours can be even more difficult. This is why I don’t like the idea of having multiple Cultural Centers around campus.  

I believe their separate existence sends out the wrong message. Instead of bringing people together, they physically separate people. If I want to go to the Black Cultural center, followed by the Native American Cultural Center, I have to walk across campus. If I do have time to see both centers, there’s a good chance that I will feel like a minority (which would make sense since I’m surrounded by mostly people from the same culture that I’m not from).   

Feeling like you’re a minority not only makes it harder to approach people, but also creates discomfort. If people feel more uncomfortable the closer they get to a building, are they more or less likely to visit that building.What then, should Purdue do to solve this issue? I propose that instead of spending millions of dollars on separate cultural centers, why not have one World Cultural Center.  

I imagine a place approximately half the size of our current co-rec (work out facility) that has equal sized rooms all facing each other. These rooms would have separate cultures represented in each room. Wouldn't it be more comfortable walking into a place where everyone is equally represented? Wouldn't it be cool going to a dining court that features foods from all over the world (think Chinese, Indian, German, Japanese, Mexican foods etc.)?  

If we really want to represent everyone in a positive way, I think we need to represent everyone equally. Having separate Cultural Centers in my mind doesn't represent cultures; it segregates or singles them out. In my Fraternity, we don’t have a Latino, White, Asian, Black, or American area. We treat everyone equally. 

Just like we don’t mistreat any particular ethnicity or race, we also don’t put any one race on a pedestal.  I believe that in many ways, having separate cultural centers does just that. Don’t get me wrong, I love what cultural centers stand for, I just don’t think they are practical because of how they are currently being implemented. Have any constructive criticism on my article? Did you actually like my article?

Whatever the case, feel free to email me at mfisker@purdue with any constructive feedback.