Black culture center set to welcome students

The Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center will welcome new and returning students during its annual open house and reception from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. today.\n"The purpose of the open house and reception is to invite both black and all students to visit the center," said Oyibo Afoaku, the director of the center. "There will be a lot of networking going here. Students meet and make new friends, meet some IU and community leaders face-to-face for the first time." \nWith more than 100 students expected to attend the event, attendees will have the opportunity to meet with various student groups, service offices and academic departments. Campus and community leaders will speak, and free pizza will be served at the end of the reception. Official tours are available for new students who want to acclimate themselves to the center. \nThe center's facility is equipped with both large and small rooms where student groups can hold meetings, workshops and banquets. The NMBCC's library has about 5,000 volumes and current \njournals, newspapers and magazines mainly on topics of music, culture and history as they relate to the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, said library branch coordinator Marianna Brough. \nThe NMBCC staff serves as student advocates and offers informal counseling services to those who seek it. Most of the programs and events are free, and many of them are done in collaboration with other diversity groups on campus, such as the Latino Culture Center, the Asian Culture Center and Hillel Center. One of the main goals of the center is to create a sense of community for IU students of all races to establish a "home away from home," Afoaku said. \n"I love the fact that when I come into the NMBCC, I don't have to change myself to fit anyone's standards," said student liaison DeOndray Pope. \nPope became involved with the center when he was in high school through the Spring Shadow Program offered in his community. \n"At the time I came down here, there was a huge fuss on why the NMBCC wasn't being used adequately by students of color," Pope said. "Since then, I have had the most wonderful time working with my co-workers and other student leaders to ensure that the building is being used adequately by the students that it was built for"