Middle Eastern and North African students gain representation

The Undergraduate Student Government granted the Middle Eastern and North African Student Association official programming assembly status at its Senate meeting Tuesday night. After undergoing a trial period over this semester, during which it proved a strong campus presence, MENASA will now have access to funding and support from USG. 

MENASA is currently working to hire professional staff for the MENA lounge — including an embedded MENA therapist — and adding a MENA race category on forms and applications. 

Patricia Gerges, director of community outreach for MENASA and a senior majoring in industrial and systems engineering, said having these resources and proper representation for MENA students is important because they can make more accurate assessments of their well-being. Gerges explained that MENA student data in publications such as student well-being reports is not accurately communicated in studies because of the lack of their own racial category.

“The lack of a category really is like an invisible barrier,” Gerges said. “The problem is when these people get admitted, that reflects on the University’s overall census and demographics.”

Sami Andari, director of external affairs for MENASA and a junior majoring in chemical engineering, also said MENASA not having status as a programming assembly under USG is part of what bars the MENA community from gaining access to resources that other student communities have.

“We’re not given some of the resources other assemblies have, like dorm floors, funding for big events and whatnot. It’s all things we really don’t have access to,” Andari said. “We believe that the main cause of that is us not being recognized as a racial category on these forms.”

Anthony Khoory, MENASA’s co-executive director and a senior majoring in sociology, said he believes the approval of MENASA as an official programming assembly will allow for their projects to move forward.

The expansion of the MENA lounge, which is located in the Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs, into a larger center is a goal that has been on MENA students’ minds for some time, Khoory and Gerges said.

“The space is not adequate enough, and it doesn’t suffice,” Gerges said. “There was a march for Mahsa Amini, the woman killed by the morality police in Iran, and a lot of Persian students were there demonstrating. They were all gathered in the MENA lounge and space, but it could not fit them all.”

Khoory said that continuing to push for the completion of these goals, such as the lounge expansion, is within the realm of possibility. 

“The student lounge was created after advocacy based on the coalition that I had made, which ended up becoming MENASA,” Khoory said. “The lounge was not something the [University] decided to make. It was because we had advocated for it since 2019.”

During their trial period, MENASA has shown a strong presence on campus and have held a number of on-campus events centered around involvement, racial inclusivity and advocacy. MENASA has several more events planned, including networking events, workshops, a MENA bash and activities with other organizations which are meant to increase MENA engagement on campus.

Andari said MENASA has been working hard to get these initiatives lined up in progress this semester.

 “We’re hosting many events and having events with other assemblies as well and just trying our best to legitimize ourselves on campus,” Andari said.

Andari also said it has not been an easy journey for MENASA to be incorporated as a programming assembly, but the support they have been receiving from USC has been helpful in guiding MENASA on what goals are achievable and connecting them with people who can help them make the changes they are striving for. 

“We’ve had many people at USC that were really helpful and really understanding, but we understand their limitations and what they can’t do,” Andari said. “We want to work with them.”

Gerges said there are multiple steps that must be taken before an assembly can become a part of USG, including the initial voting approval from various committees and then the Senate which decides if the assembly can stay a part of the programming committee.

“It’s not like any cultural organization is going to be part of USG,” Gerges said. “You have to present, you have to show them that you deserve it and that you are worthy of being there.”