Witherspoon Student Center

Mission and Values

Awareness and Appreciation

Mission

The African American Cultural Center promotes awareness of and appreciation for African American and other African descent experiences through activities and events that enhance academic excellence and strengthen cultural competence for the campus and surrounding communities.

The African American Cultural Center stays actively engaged in the academic life of NC State with programs, resources and services that facilitate the cultural, intellectual and social growth of the entire university community.

As an integral academic unit that operates under the auspices of the Provost’s Office, the African American Cultural Center is an indispensable component of NC State’s mission of “building a diverse and inclusive campus community, fostering demographic and intellectual diversity, fostering internal and external partnerships and adopting an operational model that embraces efficiency and accountability.”

In support of its mission, the Cultural Center maintains a Library and an Art Gallery.

Principles

  • This is a space made of humans seeking community. Community building means we greet one another, engage in dialogue, get to know each other with depth, and allow it to transform us and everything around us.
  • Our space is small and mighty and we have to take care of it for full enjoyment. In AACC spaces, we place food waste in hallway trash cans and we clean up after ourselves and keep hard surfaces we touch sanitized for those who may come after us.
  • We care for people and believe in the importance of communicating and respecting each other’s boundaries! This means we extend courtesy to others by asking them how they would like to engage, being clear about how we’d like to engage, as well as other forms of evoking consent. When interacting with others, this may look like asking (we encourage you to add to this list):
    • Should I wear a mask around you?
    • Is it okay if I take off my mask?
    • Would you like a hug?
    • Are you comfortable with how close I am sitting/standing?
  • We will always assert, it is okay to ask for what you need and it’s okay to say “No.”
  • In library spaces, we keep the volume at reasonable levels.
  • Because we know the dangers of harmful language and tropes we are mindful to not use language which creates harm for others and creates barriers to the ways they access care.
  • We honor the written words of our ancestors and living legacies by not eating in the library and gallery spaces so as to not damage the books.
  • Honor room capacities as posted. This makes it easier to keep our community safely engaged with one another.

Values

As we work to fulfill our mission, we strive to remain focused on the values that live at the heart of everything we do and everything that the African American Cultural Center represents. In all of our relationships, projects, activities and events, we value:

  • TRUTH AND INTEGRITY: We seek the truth and promote honesty and integrity in all matters, from the information that we disseminate about the African American experience to the way that we handle the day-to-day business of the African American Cultural Center .
  • CREATIVITY AND RESOURCEFULNESS: Our constant search for fresh ideas and innovative ways of doing things enables us to make full and productive use of the resources that are available to us. We work to develop new resources as needed.
  • RESPECT AND ACCEPTANCE: The African American Cultural Center is enriched by people who have different ways of seeing the world. We respect these differences and strive to embrace them as we celebrate the vast diversity of the African American experience.