Amherst's Center for Cross Cultural Study

Who knew that there was such a thing called the “Center for Cross-Cultural Study” right here in Amherst, MA? Yes, there is indeed, and they offer study abroad programs in Spain and Argentina. But why does the community not know about the center? Perhaps because the center does not actively promote their programs to students at UMass. Perhaps because their target audience and ideal client is not the working-class students of public universities, much less the public university that has shaped this town. We ask one simple question: why? How committed to “cross-cultural” study is a center who’s student-participants come from mainly middle to upper class backgrounds? Why is a center for cross-cultural study not actively engaged with the community? We would like to promote a center that proposes to study multiple cultures, languages, histories, and ways of viewing those histories, but until we hear some answers and until the community begins to actually learn about the center, our promotion only falls in the realm of questions. We welcome any answers and hope that you post them as comments.