The Salaam Middle East North Africa Cultural Center, a recently opened cultural center at the University, boosts recognition of the Middle Eastern and North African community on campus, providing a home for all people interested in these diverse cultures. 

The new cultural center had an unofficial opening in mid-December, and four months later, the center has a cozy space furnished in ethnic motifs and visitors coming to enjoy Middle Eastern and North African cultures every day. 

According to Sinan Hashim, sophomore in LAS, the initial idea to create a center was sparked by students. Hashim participated in establishing the center. 

“We were kind of deciding if we wanted to make a committee within Student Government or anything, but we had kind of slowed down just because we didn’t know who to seek help for,” Hashim said about their initial plans about creating a student body to support the Middle Eastern and North African community on campus. 

According to Hashim, the community got the University’s support immediately after reaching out to them, and it took only a few months to plan and establish the center as it is now.

“This past summer, I got in touch with Dr. Domonic Cobb, who’s the assistant vice chancellor for Student Success, Inclusion and Belonging, and from there it was just really a catapult,” Hashim said. “It was really surprising to me because I just didn’t understand how much support the University had in store for us, and how quickly these things could happen.”

To create something like Salaam, the University just needed to hear students’ voices and see their interest in this, said Eman Zwawi, senior in LAS. Zwawi is on the board of advisors.

“I think, honestly, the hardest part has just been keeping focus on getting everybody involved,” Zwawi said. “Obviously, this is the sort of thing where our university administrators don’t know what we need until we tell them, until we suggest and we make it a priority and we show our interest in this.”

The uniqueness of Salaam lies in the diversity of cultures it represents, according to Hashim.

“I would say the largest thing was just ensuring that this place was not specific to one ethnicity or one identity because that’s just not a realistic representation of the region,” Hashim said. 

It makes Salaam the first Middle East and North Africa cultural center in the nation that encompasses so many different cultures and ethnicities. 

“I think the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a first for many things; it was the first La Casa, for example, program,” said Awad Awad, inaugural director of the cultural center. “And so we are part of that tradition of the first.”

The main goal behind Salaam is to provide safe space for everyone, including people with Middle Eastern and North African heritage, Muslims or people interested in learning more.

“We want to provide a safe space for students of any connection to the Middle East, whether they be international students, Middle Eastern American students, people who follow religious beliefs that have originated in the region or people who want to learn more,” Hashim said.

During Ramadan and fasting, Salaam provided space for Iftar and prayers for all students who needed it.

“The initial idea was to try to make the space as comfortable as possible first, to try to meet as many people on campus as possible to learn as much as possible and to explore ways that we can work together,” Awad said. “So the low hanging fruit was providing a space for people to have iftar and then do their prayers if they wanted.”

Salaam became a safe space for members of the community where they can find support, especially during Ramadan.

“I didn’t really know how much I would use the center even just for small things like studying, but it’s nice to always meet here with friends, especially during Ramadan when you’re fasting and you just need that support,” Hashim said. 

The community that has not had a sense of belonging, finally found home in Salaam.

“I think (Salaam) is a step forward and recognition of my identity and understanding of my experiences as a Middle Eastern American, in a country that hasn’t really supported the identities of the Middle East,” Hashim said. 

Even the name of the center carries a personal and crucial meaning for members of the Middle Eastern and North African community that they want to share with others. 

“Salam, as a word in Arabic, means peace, it means acceptance,” Zwawi said. “In my everyday life, like, you walk into a room, and you say ‘Salam,’ you say ‘Hi, how’s it going? How are you?’ And to have a space on campus where I can walk in and say ‘Salam’ and be welcomed with that piece as a part of my identity is so valuable to me.”

The center will have a grand opening this fall and has already started preparing big collaborations with other cultural houses. 

“We’ve already started networking with the other external organizations to come up with ideas on joint events, especially during like Black History Month or Asian American History Month or Hispanic Heritage Month,” Awad said. 

In addition to that, the center is planning to create education programs affiliated with the University and even add Middle Eastern as a cultural identity in the system of the University. 

“We want to provide educational resources and cultural programming that is university affiliated, we would like to provide more resources in terms of career building for Middle Eastern students that a lot of other cultural centers have fleshed out so, scholarships,” said Hashim.

He also noted that they want to work on having a recognition for a Middle Eastern identity within the University system for a better understanding of the statistics of graduation rates. 

“We really want to work on having a recognition for a Middle Eastern identity within the university system so that we can have better statistics on graduation rates,” Hashim said. “On how many Middle Eastern students are benefiting of like, university assistance, whether that’d be like scholarships or health care and stuff like that.”

Considering cultural programs, the center is planning to attract American artists of Middle Eastern and North African heritage to perform as well as to promote underrepresented cultures of the Middle East. 

“We’re thinking for next year for the Salaam center to bring the National Arab Orchestra for a performance there,” Awad said. “But also really reach out to communities that even minority communities within the region that also have had double on recognition: the Coptic community, the Assyrian community, the Chaldean community, etc.”

Salaam is striving to become home for everyone regardless of their gender, cultural or religious identity to collaborate and “build” a safe and inclusive center. 

“Anybody who wants to learn about the region is welcome here well across their religious, political, gender identity, everything spectrum,” Awad said. “It’s a safe space for all and a transformative space where we can deconstruct national narratives that are exclusionary and divided us and reconstruct them to allow space for everyone.”

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