Every Thursday, junior decision and information technologies major Patrick Dure heads from his home in University Courtyard to the Nyumburu Cultural Center. He finds the conference room, sits down, and meets with other members of the Caribbean Students Association, hanging out and discussing plans for the club.

And, every time Dure completes his Thursday regimen and begins the trek back to Courtyard, he remembers how important Nyumburu is to black students like himself.

“I just think they [other students] might think it’s just another building – it’s not as significant to them,” Dure said. “But for us in the black community, it’s like a black meeting place.”

Since its creation in 1971, the Nyumburu Cultural Center – “nyumburu” comes from the Swahili words “nyumba” for house and “uhuru” for freedom – has been an important part of the campus community, holding lectures, seminars, workshops and academic courses in blues, jazz and creative writing. But for Dure and other students, Nyumburu also serves as a campus haven to explore different cultures and hang out with people of similar backgrounds.

James “Otis” Williams, who helped create the center and served as its first director, helped oversee the growth of Nyumburu from a small office above the South Campus Dining Hall to a specially designed building in 1997.

“Generally speaking, the movement for black cultural centers on predominantly white campuses was creating a safe space for black students that were matriculating into areas that weren’t necessarily diverse,” said Kesha Jamaal, assistant director of student involvement and public relations for the center.

An open door

The majority of students come to the center because of its relaxed environment that encourages people to meet new people or seek advice from staff members, Jamaal said.

“It’s very family-oriented, very informal,” Jamaal said. “Students can come here for everything from printing out a paper, or if students are struggling, they can come here and we can try our best to point them in the right direction.”

For Ugonna Madeuke, president of the African Students Association, Nyumburu was especially comforting during his freshman year, he said.

“I found myself being there a lot, because there were other people who I felt I could share and have a relationship based on our background with,” he said. “The doors are always open for people to come in and talk.”

Creating a diverse community

Apart from giving black students a place to hang out and learn, Nyumburu also adds to the overall diversity of the campus, Jamaal said.

“It’s similar to Hillel, you know, where it’s a safe space for Jewish students,” Jamaal said. “Sometimes it just helps with your adaptation to college to see others that look like you and are having a similar experience to you. I think college isn’t just about getting an education in your classroom – it’s about expanding your horizons and having experiences that you normally wouldn’t have.”

Ari Israel, executive director of Hillel, agrees with Jamaal’s comparison.

“That’s what Hillel and the Nyumburu Cultural Center have in common, they celebrate a unique culture in a broader context of a diverse community,” he said.

It is that diversity which Ronald Zeigler, Nyumburu’s director, wants students to embrace when visiting Nyumburu.

“Nyumburu is open to any student,” he said. “It’s not an exclusionary mission.”

Educating the public

In addition to the Caribbean Students Association, the Black Student Union and African Students Association also hold weekly meetings in Nyumburu, as well as sponsoring popular events like the Gospel Happy Hour and Juke Joint, Zeigler said. Annual events like Carifest and the Hispanic Heritage Festival also occur at the center and draw large crowds, he said.

Aside from social events, Nyumburu is also home to a variety of panel discussions and public forums such as the popular provost conversations, Zeigler said.

“There are many students from different classes whose professors have them come here as one of the requirements,” he said. “There is programming that we have that focuses on the African diaspora, but there are a lot of other programs relating to race, sex, gender, and nationality. It’s kind of like a holistic approach.”

Nyumburo also offers five academic classes which are constantly full, Zeigler said. While four three-credit courses center on jazz, blues, gospel choir and creative writing from a black perspective, there is also a one-credit course that discusses the retention rate of black males in college.

“We have steady enrollment,” Jamaal said. “We haven’t had a semester yet where we didn’t have.”

Contact reporter Roxana Hadadi at hadadidbk@gmail.com.