Community Description

The Multicultural Learning Community is home to a diverse community of first-year and second-year students who share a passion for  exploring issues of diversity and social justice, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and more.  Members of the community explore their own identity, develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for others, confront the realities of power and privilege, and learn to become agents for social change.

The Multicultural Learning Community offers two course clusters: the Race and Gender Course Cluster for students most interested in exploring issues of race and gender and the Arts in Society Course Cluster for students most interested in developing an understanding of art as an expression of culture and as a vehicle for social change.

In 2012-2013, the Multicultural Learning Community will be home to 50 first-year students.  The first-year students live together in one of our 5 first-year residence halls.  Messina Hall will open in the Fall of 2012!

Activities and Programs

The Multicultural LC actively participates programs that aims to bring together students, faculty, and staff from different backgrounds to build deeper cultural understanding and to encourage action towards social justice.  Faculty have lead a number of student trips to cultural museums such as the Holocaust Museum, the DuSable Museum of African American History, and the Art Institute of Chicago and to theater productions around the city of Chicago that explore cultural events and perspectives.  Students volunteer with Loyola's Labre Ministry, which builds solidarity while providing food to the homeless around the Water Tower Campus and engage in service opportunities around the city with their faculty. 

Students will participate in a lot of programs and activities designed for the community as a whole as well as programs and activities specific to their course cluster.

Curricular Requirements

The curricular requirements provide wonderful opportunities to connect through coursework with peers in the community but also ample opportunity to meet friends from outside the community.  Faculty members who teach in the Multicultural LC also participate with students in activities and events outside the classroom, allowing students to develop stronger relationships with faculty members from their first day on campus.  

First-Year Student Curriculum

First-year students in the Multicultural Learning Community take 4 credit hours together in the Fall semester and 3 credit hours together in the Spring semester. All courses required for the Multicultural LC meet requirements for all degree programs at Loyola. Planned courses for 2012-2013 include:

Fall Semester *	Spring Semester *
Race and Gender Course Cluster
ENGL 100: Introducation to Literature OR PSYC 100: Psychological Foundations of Behavior and Experience: Cross Cultural Perspectives (3cr)	ENGL 283: Women in Literature (3cr) OR TBD
UNIV 101: Loyola First Year Seminar (1cr)
Arts in Society Course Cluster
UNIV 190: Understanding Service & Social Justice, Arts in a Democratic Society (3cr)	THTR 100: Introduction to Theater (3cr)
UNIV 101: Loyola First Year Seminar (1cr)