Cultural Center

Fostering Community and Social Change since 1989
Cultural Center Brochure (pdf)

Lebrón-Wiggins-Pran Cultural Center's Mission

To serve better and retain students of color and international students, the Lebrón-Wiggins-Pran Cultural Center provides a range of programs and resources to support and promote the success of students of color and international students at Hampshire College. 

Additionally, the center provides programs and resources to the larger campus community for engagement in issues related to race, culture, and under-representation, with the underlying goal to effect social change.

We enhance our longstanding commitment to community and social change by:

• providing and advocating for services, programs, and resources that assist international students and students of color for a successful transition to, matriculation at, and graduation from Hampshire College
• offering services, programs, and resources that foster academic success among international students and students of color
• ensuring a space for multicultural community building, individual expression, and the exchange of ideas
• fostering leadership skills for multicultural competence for students of color, international students, and multicultural student groups
• continually examining the fluidity of race, culture, and identity; specifically examining how race and culture intersect with other social identities and their impact on one's view of self and of the world
• serving as a campus partner in promoting multicultural competence through community engagement on topics related to race, culture, and under-representation.

At the Cultural Center, we recognize students come to Hampshire with their own terms of self-identity and will soon be placed in a new environment where identity will take on different terms and meanings. The Cultural Center aims to help students of color and international students navigate through that phenomenon.

If you have an idea for a program or would like to explore further a topic related to the center's mission, please email the Cultural Center or stop by!
 

Office of Multicultural and International Student Services

The office of multicultural and international student services (MISS) is housed in the Cultural Center. MISS provides a network of comprehensive services and innovative programs that support and advance the intellectual, personal, cultural, and social development of students of color and international students. 413.559.5461

International Student Advising

MISS provides information and programs to international students about the campus and community; and provides support and assistance concerning visas and related immigration issues. Call 413.559.5779 or email missintl@hampshire.edu for more information.

The Lebrón-Wiggins-Pran Cultural Center and MISS are part of the department of Community Advocacy in the division of Student Life.

Naming the Lebrón-Wiggins-Pran Cultural Center

On October 26, 1989, SOURCE officially announced the name of the Lebrón-Wiggins-Pran Cultural Center. The center was named after Lolita Lebrón, Ronald Wiggins, and Dith Pran because of their contributions to the struggles of Latino/Latina American, African/African American, and Asian/Asian American communities.

Lolita Lebrón was an important figure in the Puerto Rican Nationalist Movement. In 1954, the movement made its final attempt to free Puerto Rico from U.S. colonialism through militaristic tactics. Lebrón and her compadres proclaimed "Free Puerto Rico Now," as they injured five U.S. Congressman. She was arrested for this action and spent twenty-five years in the United States as a political prisoner.

Roland Wiggins was a music professor at Hampshire College and a pioneer in the area of education for Black children.

Dith Pran was a survivor of war-torn Cambodia. He was the subject of the highly praised film The Killing Fields. Pran, with his unique perspective on the Far East and America, was a spokesman for Cambodian refugees around the world.