Popcorn
By Bob Coffey, Jr.
It’s probably the absurdly huge bags of buttery popcorn stacked like cordwood in the conference room that provides the first indication that this isn’t just another University administrator’s office. Moving into the office’s “living room” reveals a cheerful throng of students, sprawled out on two overused couches, munching on the popcorn and intently watching a favorite movie. Floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook a wooded ravine light the room. Another student sits at the receptionist’s desk intently studying. She looks up from her textbook and her notes only to greet visitors or answer the telephone. “Good afternoon, Office of Multicultural Student Affairs.” She uses the office’s full name for the benefit of newcomers, but in the vernacular of the campus, it’s simply “OMSA.”
For many people, the moniker “Office of Multicultural Student Affairs” may conjure up images of gray filing cabinets, ringing phones and the trappings of administration. But for the students who spend time there, it’s a lifeline, a source of support, a comfortable spot to study, and sometimes, just a place to hang out with your friends and watch movies.
With a mandate to provide advocacy and support for students of color and to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students, OMSA serves as the point of connection for one of the most eclectic and diverse communities at the University of New Hampshire. Through its doors pass first-generation Americans born in Asia, Russia and the Caribbean; students of color from North Conway and New York; students using wheelchairs and community activists; lesbians from “above the Notch” and gay men from the suburbs from Boston; cheerful Resident Assistants and harried graduate students and allies from everywhere. One by one, they push through the doors, laughing, jostling each other, and shouting greetings to others who have already secured a coveted spot on one of the couches.
Trevor is a movie aficionado, his all-time favorite being To Wong Foo: Thanks For Everything, Love Julie Newmar. As a transfer student, Trevor remembers wondering where and how he’d find other LGBT students. “OMSA helped me get connected on campus and helped me see how I could get involved.” He visits the office nearly every day, to munch on a sandwich between classes, check his email or print a paper. Audrey, a senior, smiles when she recalls her first visit to OMSA. “I was invited to stop in by a friend of mine who’d started spending time here and really valued the experience. I remember being surprised by how easy it was to make connections and meet new people; I hadn’t even realized it was here.” Nicole comes for the people. “I like the social atmosphere that OMSA has. It’s a place where you can come in and be crazy, where you can talk about your classes, and be honest in a way that you couldn’t necessarily be with your professor.” Dave agrees: “It’s cool to hear other people’s experiences, and it helps me to not get caught up in just being gay; there are other parts of our identities that are important, too.”
When asked what she’s found in OMSA, Lourdes laughs: “Ev-e-ry-thang! In OMSA, I’ve found support, connections and new relationships; new friends, academic and moral support and a job, too.” Her tone drops and she appears more serious. “I think OMSA is vital to the experiences of minority students at UNH. When students of color arrive on campus, we feel like we’re on our own. It’s important to have a zone where you’re comfortable speaking about the things that concern you; to have other people that can relate to you…people who can help you thrive here.”
Nicole also perceives the intersections of identities taking place here. “I don’t know that our student organizations always adequately address our identities as a whole. I don’t [think] the Alliance [UNH’s LGBT student society] deals well with issues of race and class, and I wouldn’t say that the BSU [Black Student Union] handles queer issues well. I think the only place where you might be able to feel at home with all of your different identities would be to come into this office, talk with other students, meet with people.” Audrey agrees: “I come here to meet people from all of the diverse cultures that exist at the University. Coming here was the easiest way for me to do that.” Trevor adds, “We’re one of the few universities in the US that link these two communities (students of color and LGBT students) in this way. There’s so much potential for collaboration and coalition-building for us, in a way that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”
“We all need exposure to different kinds of people,” Lourdes comments. “If we’re separated, it’s perpetuating what’s happening in society. Working together is helping us acquire the skills that we’ll need when we graduate. I can honestly say that if the LGBT office was down the hall” Lourdes gestures toward the front door “I wouldn’t be going in there, you know. It wouldn’t be a hangout spot for me. I wouldn’t know anyone there, and, not knowing people, you tend to stay with the people that you know. It’s much better like this. You interact with people, and your questions get answered. I’ve honestly learned a lot that I didn’t know about LGBT people.” Trevor smiles. “I value that UNH recognizes that it’s important for us to work together, and I think that we’re frequently pursuing the same aims. In that sense, there’s not a lot of difference between us.”