Middle Eastern & North African (MENA) Students Need More Representation at Northwestern Through Their Own Branch in NU Multicultural Student Affairs. 

Northwestern Multicultural Student Affairs & The Northwestern Office of Institutional Diversity & Inclusion must begin by implementing the following initiatives: 

1.) Formal Recognition of MENA Students 

NU should count MENA as a distinct racial group in any research surveys, diversity surveys, admission surveys, etc. that are sent out. A community can not be created for a population that does not exist on paper. NU has rendered MENA students invisible.

A new diversity survey should be sent out to all students that includes a box for MENA students so accurate data can be collected displaying how many MENA students go to Northwestern. This is an essential first step in creating a MENA community here. 

2.) Create MSA Branch Dedicated to MENA Students 

A MENA MSA branch must be created with its own content expert and graduate student expert, keeping the administration accountable and directly involved in events and programming. 

3.) Create Programming for MENA Students to Build Community 

In a recent survey sent out to the NU community regarding MENA students, 66 out of the 67 respondents, 98.5%, stated that they were not aware of any programming held for Middle Eastern & North African students at Northwestern. Although there are some groups shown on the NU Student Groups website, none have any active programming, and many of them are exclusively for Muslims and/or Arabs, which excludes religious minorities in the MENA region such as MENA Christians, Copts, Yazidis, Shiites, and North Africans who do not affiliate with Arab culture. We have no place to gather and celebrate our unique cultural identities or speak about our experiences as a marginalized identity group on campus. 

A MENA Community Association needs to be created holding cultural events and creating a space where those of MENA descent can gather and celebrate their cultural identities. 

5.) Add a MENA Box on NU Research Surveys & Admissions Applications 

Since there is no box for those of MENA descent our population is rendered invisible in many research studies conducted on campus. NU should also create a place on the admissions application recognizing MENA students. 

4.) Recognition of Arab Heritage Month 

There was no formal recognition of Arab Heritage Month nor was there any programming held for MENA students. 

5.) Recognize MENA Minorities in MENA Related Classes & Create a Class Dedicated to MENA Minorities 

When looking through the classes offered by the Middle Eastern North African Department at Northwestern there are many courses focusing on modern-day issues such as Politics of the Middle East, Islamic Law, Traveling While Muslim, Muslim History of Eastern Europe, Caliphs and Caliphates: From the Prophet’s Successors to ISIS, Introduction to Islam, etc. All these classes are great, however, they communicate a rather flat understanding of the populations that exist in the Middle East and North Africa. They also overlook current events involving minorities in this region. The MENA region has populations other than Sunni Muslims such as Coptic Christians, Protestant Christians, Yazidis, and more. There is a long history of discrimination, prejudice, and persecution of these minorities in this region, including the previous and current acts of terror by ISIS that were labeled as genocide in 2016. The histories and complex identities of these populations are rendered invisible as the MENA department does not have a single course dedicated to these populations. The MENA & Political Science department needs to create a class dedicated to these populations. 

For more information: 

https://dailynorthwestern.com/2021/05/13/opinion/ibrahim-northwestern-renders-middle-eastern-and-north-african-students-invisible/