Spaces of Empowerment: A Study on University Multicultural Spaces & Civil Rights

Following the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, American universities dedicated offices and centers to multiculturalism. This project questions how identity-centered spaces for empowerment operate in relation to efforts for institutional integration. This study proposes the term space(s) of empowerment to describe identity-based areas at universities [and other institutions] that encourage gathering of historically marginalized communities, their allies, and institutional supervisory support. The concept draws on architectural literature regarding political and economic power dynamics of space. Beginning with the University of San Diego’s United Front Multicultural Commons (UFMC), study includes reproductions of floor plans and memories. Analysis draws from Michel de Certeau’s Practice of Everyday Life, defining the UFMC as a practiced space asserting resilience and functioning as sanctuary for micro-groups. Broader investigation revealed more than 600 similar spaces whose timeline appears in reaction to the Civil Rights Movement. Vocabulary affiliated with these spaces shifted – from “multicultural” to “intercultural” to “united” – aligning with the progression of theory, notably Kimberlé Crenshaw’s coining of the term “intersectionality” at the turn of the 1990s. The study concludes in a moment of crisis, accelerated by the current administration, where policies systematically target spaces of empowerment and related DEI initiatives challenging, transforming, or closing of these spaces.