The suite life

Shady M. Qubaty ’20

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In December 2023, then-president Peter Salovey ’86PhD announced measures to support communities on campus affected by the Hamas-Israel War, including Jews, Muslims, and people from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). One of those initiatives, which had been a focus of student advocacy for years, is a meeting place for the MENA cultural community, now up and running at 305 Crown Street. With a kitchen and a “salon” (right)for meetings, events, and hanging out, the space is more limited than the university’s four cultural centers (it’s being called a “cultural suite”), but Lena Ginawi, assistant director of the MENA community, says it’s made a big difference. “I think there’s a lot of collective healing that needs to happen,” she says, “and that happens through community and through a space like this.”