My mom immigrated to the U.S. from Iran when she was just 16 years old. At that age, I didn’t fully understand how valuable it was to be fully immersed into my culture, which my mom feverishly kept alive in my household. Growing up Iranian-American meant that baking Christmas cookies and watching Home Alone intertwined with our yearly Shabe Yaldā dinner, a celebration that fell on the longest night of the year and filled the house with Persian music and family.

For a while, I took for granted how closely tied my parents kept the two cultures and how involved I felt in the traditions and heritage my mom showered me with throughout the years. Despite coming from a hometown where meeting another Middle Eastern person my age, let alone another Iranian, was a rarity, celebrating holidays and bonding over shared culture with the handful of Persian friends I did have was a warm familiarity, and sharing traditions with friends from other cultures was a privilege.

Transitioning to Syracuse University was accompanied by a hopefulness that there would be a larger community of Middle Eastern students here, waiting with open arms. Instead, I faced the disappointment of a Persian club that only existed within the search engine of the SU website. I quickly realized the extent of the University’s attention to Middle Eastern culture as a whole started and ended with an academic program in Middle Eastern Studies.

While an opportunity to learn about the history of these cultures is an important step, there is a remarkable power in connecting with those who share something as ingrained in oneself as their culture. Middle Eastern students at SU deserve and have been deprived of a capability to provide comfort and familiarity through shared flavors, phrases or nuances within a culture.

I have been lucky enough to joyously connect with other Middle Eastern and even Persian students here on my own, but those who long for a community that shares cultural ties shouldn’t have to cross their fingers and hope they’ll be “lucky enough” to find others like them.

A university that has the resources and funds that SU does should be working to create a space or network to ease the connection of their Middle Eastern student population. A space where celebrating cultural holidays can be done in the company of others and where friendships can be formed through this deep similarity.

While not every Middle Eastern student at SU may desire a space like this, I can’t help but imagine how much easier transitioning here would have been if I was able to meet a group of people based on something I didn’t have to be good at or enjoy doing, if I were welcomed into a community purely based on where I stem from.

SU has an obligation as an institution that values diversity and inclusion to establish a physical space on campus that aids and encourages the coming together of their Middle Eastern students. SU has taken similar actions in the past, such as by the creation of Euclid 119 for Black students, and has more than enough funds to provide Middle Eastern students with a physical space. It would give students a needed feeling of home away from home.

Having a community for Middle Eastern students doesn’t just mean making friends or creating a smoother transition for new students. It’s a nod of recognition from the school. Though it should’ve been in place a long time ago, SU must establish a space for a culture and group of people that deserve the same attention as others on campus.

Roxana Berentes, Class of 2025

Published on September 15, 2022 at 12:19 am