The Intercultural Network’s name was changed to the Student Connections Center at the start of the semester.
Prior to the revamp, the department focused on helping people of color to succeed. Now they are aiming to support all students.
Verónikha Salazar, South Campus vice president of student affairs, said the Student Connections Center is now focused on helping students who need extra support like students who are nearly completed, first-generation or on probation.
“We kept emphasizing that it’s no longer one population, and now the mentoring is more intentional,” she said. “It’s more mentorship. It’s more academic workshops, like partnering with the learning commons, with the writing center, with the math lab.”
The Intercultural Network team conducted a student survey during the fall semester asking what the new name should be. A total of 741 students responded, and the Student Connections Center was mentioned 260 times, giving it the most votes.
TR Campus Vice President of Student Affairs Jason Abreu said the name change wasn’t connected to Texas Senate Bill 17, which prohibits diversity, equity and inclusion activities on college campuses.
“It wasn’t necessarily to alleviate SB-17,” Abreu said. “Obviously that’s still there, but we want to make sure that students are drivers of their experiences. We just wanted to offer a space so that students knew if I had a question, if I don’t know what I’m doing, where can I go to.”
NE student Justin Sims has been going to the center for about six months and said they believe the name change will draw more students.
“This is a place where we want to help you, and we want to make sure that all the resources necessary are being provided perfectly,” Sims said.