"The MRC (Multicultural Resources Center) is for everyone who is committed to working together to build a stronger and more socially just community at Oberlin College."

—Eric Estes, associate dean/director of MRC

Diversity and inclusion are core commitments of Oberlin College and key aspects of a liberal arts education. The College offers students a wide range of opportunities to involve themselves in activities andorganizations—inside and outside of the classroom—that promote community building and social justice.

The Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) serves as a crucial hub for collaborative work around supporting historically underrepresented communities specifically and diversity and inclusion within a social justice context generally at Oberlin College. Working together with a wide range of faculty, students, alumni, staff, and members of the local community, the MRC is uniquely positioned to create a vision of diversity and multiculturalism that supports educational excellence.

The MRC supports the academic and personal needs of historically underrepresented students, especially students of color, lesbian, gay. bisexual, transgendered, and queer (LGBTQ) students, and international, first generation, and low-income students.  At the same time, the MRC creates opportunities for the campus community to engage with intellectual discourses and develop critical thinking skills that are crucial for the educational experience of all students.

The MRC collaborates with faculty from a wide range of academic departments and programs including African American studies, comparative American studies, and the Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies Institute. Other administrative partners include:

The Edmonia Lewis Center for Women and Transgender People, a collective of students, staff, and administrators doing the work of transforming existing systems of oppression based on sex, gender, race, class, sexuality, age, ability, size, religion, nationality, ethnicity and language.  The center is a safe space, which allows staff to support and advocate for those disenfranchised based on gender, cisgender, or transgender.

Lord-Saunders Afrikan Heritage House (AHH) is the center of activity for students who want to heighten their understanding of African, African American, and Afrikan Caribbean culture, traditions, and issues. The staff makes an effort to create a sense of family and camaraderie among residents as well as all students on campus. Afrikan Heritage House staff work closely with the African American studies department to coordinate events and programming. Activities typically include soul sessions, art shows, poetry nights, Kuumba Week, and numerous cultural programs and celebrations.

Third World House (Price) serves as residence hall and an arena for critical analysis and discussion of liberation, self-determination, and combating oppression in the West. Residency in Price is open to any student through an application process, which may include an interview. Residents form a close-knit community and students help each other academically, politically, and culturally. Though there is no dining component, many residents are members of the Third World Dining Co-op.

Learn more about MRC.

Learn more about the Edmonia Lewis Center.

Learn more about other Oberlin College offices.

Learn more about Afrikan Heritage House.

Learn more about Third World House (Price).