Tucked on the third floor of Norris University Center is a temporary space dedicated to Middle Eastern and North African and Muslim students.
The windowless rooms have bright yellow sofa chairs and small meeting tables with minimal decor. Each room can host about 20 people. The MENA Student Association and Muslim-cultural Students Association frequently hold meetings in the space.
The University provided this space as part of its commitment in the agreement that concluded the pro-Palestinian encampment on Deering Meadow in April. The Norris room will be in use until the University can provide a house for MENA and Muslim students upon completion of the Donald P. Jacobs Center renovation, which is expected by 2026.
SESP senior and McSA co-President Rayyana Hassan said MENA and McSA have been asking for their own space on campus for several years.
“(McSA students) don’t really know where to go to find that sense of community of people that believe in the same things as them, feel like they belong in the same spot as them,” Hassan said. “This is more like a physical structure showing that people can belong somewhere.”
Weinberg junior and MENA treasurer Nader Rahhal said the temporary room is primarily used for executive board meetings or smaller hangouts rather than larger events for the broader MENA and McSA community.
Rahhal said he hopes the permanent house can accommodate more members and become a “third space” for socializing and bringing the MENA community together.
“We don’t really feel like the space truly belongs to us,” Rahhal said. “We only throw events every couple of weeks, and so there’s a lot of gaps in between. Having a third space is very important during those gaps for people to be able to meet each other.”
While many MENA and McSA students currently use the Multicultural Center to build community, Rahhal said one of his goals for the new space is not to isolate MENA students from others but rather to provide a safe environment for discussing sensitive topics in their own way.
Rahhal said the MENA demographic is very vulnerable and needs care within a “nurturing environment” due to the grief of lost friends and family members from the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that has expanded across the Middle East
“The situation with Palestine and Lebanon is pretty dire,” Rahhal said. “I know a lot of people here personally on campus (who) have lost family members, have had to move family members, a lot of things like that, so it’s just a very traumatic time to be Middle Eastern or MENA.”
Hassan and Rahhal both said while MENA and McSA sharing a space can provide opportunities to meet other people, each organization has its own distinct goals.
Rahhal said the University’s decision to provide one space for both groups may have come from a “lack of understanding” in what distinguishes each club. He said many associate the Middle East with Islam, and though it is the predominant religion of the region, it does not account for the religious diversity of the population.
“There are shared beliefs between the two communities, but at the same time, there’s individual struggles and lots of needs from the administration that we need to address,” Hassan said. “(One organization) is very, very identity-cultural organization focused, whereas one’s more of a religious-cultural organization, and those are different for specific reasons.”
SESP sophomore Mahmoud El-Eshmawi, MENA’s director of internal relations, said having a dedicated space for MENA students is important to combat the “anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian sentiment that’s been going on for the past year on campus.”
El-Eshmawi said he’s heard stories from friends who have experienced the anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment, but having a space to share these experiences is important for students to feel safe on campus.
“Having it as a space where MENA students can just convene and just share similar struggles, or just study together or talk through difficult topics is just super important in fostering that sense of community,” El-Eshmawi said.
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