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| Daúd |
By Ranna Daúd, WSU Alumna
It was nearing the end of spring semester in 2003 when I was approached by Jesse Aspuria who was running for ASWSU President. He asked me to consider becoming the director of Multicultural Affairs within ASWSU a position devoted to advancing diversity initiatives on campus. He knew I had been a co-chair for the Middle Eastern Students’ Association (MESA) and understood the struggles that this group went through to become a recognized ASWSU student organization.
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ASWSU Directors
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Names came to my head of diversity leaders at WSU that came before me, and I immediately thought of Anita Afzali who was an amazing, intelligent and inspirational student leader. I knew I had huge shoes to fill but I was so excited about the opportunity and challenge. For me, it meant that I had a chance to make a difference on our campus and to try things that had never been done before to support the multicultural community. This included all of the Multicultural Student Services (MSS) Centers — African American, Asian American and Pacific Islander, Chicana/o Latina/o and Native American, the LGBT community and students with disabilities.
To me, it was an honor to be in this position because I had the privilege of attending recruitment and retention conferences, multicultural student organizations’ meetings and be a part of as many diversity events as possible. My goal was to ensure that all of the multicultural communities felt supported by ASWSU and had someone to speak up for them. One of the ways that was done was by creating the first ASWSU Multicultural Fundraiser Dinner, which has since become an annual event at WSU.
This event was established out of the concern that there was a lack of funding to support the multicultural student retention and recruitment conferences that helped to bring more students from diverse backgrounds to WSU. Educating people about the importance of these programs was also the purpose of this event. Our goal was to raise $10,000 and we greatly exceeded that goal by raising more than $30,000 to support the multicultural community at WSU. It was one of the most memorable events I have ever been a part of because it was a true community, grassroots effort that brought all different people, departments and levels of the WSU campus community together for a common cause to show support of multiculturalism at WSU. It was simply beautiful.
This position meant that diversity and multiculturalism was being recognized at the student government level and higher. It meant celebrating differences, exposing issues and honoring the hard word and energy that these multicultural student organizations were founded upon. We had rights that multicultural students didn’t always have walking on this very same campus and we were reaping the benefits from those students before us. We were creating a new legacy at WSU. We were making new footprints to follow. This position remains so encouraging and hopeful to me because the possibilities are endless and the fulfillment is gratifying. I still take the experiences from this position with me in my career and life today because it taught me so much about uplifting and engaging people. It truly takes a village all of us coming together and helping each other – which became the legacy, in my opinion, and I am grateful for being a small piece of that enormously uplifting legacy.
Editor’s note: Following Ranna’s graduation from WSU in 2004, she attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where she earned a master’s of science in Sport & Leisure Service Management. She currently works as an associate director for After-School All-Stars Las Vegas, a non-profit organization providing out-of-school programs for at-risk and disadvantaged youth.