About Us

The Unity Center is Rhode Island College's multicultural center. It promotes opportunities for exploring human dignity, social identity, and cultural equity. The Center fosters collaborative programming among its student affiliations, faculty and the local community. It is committed to challenging stereotypes, racism and apathy and gender discrimination. The Center's concern is to maintain global awareness by responding to current events while preparing others to be productive citizens of the world. The Center is also a place where students can engage their peers and faculty about what is being taught in the classroom and is a space for dialogue and discussion. We strive to preserve, bolster, and enrich students' cultural, social and ethnic identity.

Our Story - The History of the Unity Center

The Unity Center at Rhode Island College was established under the Division of Student Affairs in September of 1994. Under the guidance of Jay Latimer, Assistant Director of Student Life for Minority Affairs, the Unity Center was founded as a location to educate, disseminate, and elevate the understanding about and between racially and culturally diverse social groups.

In January of 2004, Aaron Bruce became the director of the Unity Center and created the Unity Center logo. While continuing to serve as a space for dialogue and discussion, the Unity Center has evolved to the meet the needs of a constantly changing campus community and dynamically diverse world. With a strong commitment to diversity and multicultural understanding, the Unity Center has become a resource for research, workshops, artistic expression and event programming. The Center serves as an ally and advocate for all underrepresented groups including but not limited to; ethnic minorities, International students, students with disabilities, Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender and questioning students (LGBTQ), and women.

Services

The Unity Center serves an educational entity within the Rhode Island College campus community. As the cultural hub of the campus, the center has several major functions:

• To educate and elevate the understanding about and between ethnically and culturally diverse people.
• To serve as a resource for experiences, workshops and artistic presentations that open up the opportunity for dialogue, as well as personal and professional growth.
• To highlight the responsibility of the entire college community of students, faculty and staff to review the commitment and practice of diversity and equality.

Services Provided

• Guidance for Residence Life Staff
• Advisement to Student Organizations
• Support of Academic Departments and Committees
• Collaborative programming to raise awareness and change attitudes
• Diversity Workshops & Seminars
• Information & Referrals
• Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender & Questioning (LGBTQ) issues
• Minority Jobs, Scholarships & Internships
• Student Leadership Development
• The Unity Awards