Student Leadership & Cultural Organizations

Unity Organizations

The cultural organizations that make up the Unity umbrella serve as a network of support for their members.  Unity organizations share meeting and workroom space in Unity House and the Mwangi Cultural Center. Throughout the academic year, Unity organizations sponsor fine arts forums, conferences, cultural celebrations, workshops and other activities, just to name a few,  such as Mehndi Night, Rhythm Nations, Asian Tea House, Five College Pa’lante, Pan-African Conference, Kwanzaa Celebration, Chinese Moon Festival, Taste of Latin America and Unity Fall Festival.

Organizations at Smith

Asian Students’ Association (ASA)

ASA provides a support network for Asian and Asian Pacific American students and serves as a link to other Asian Pacific American organizations at the Five Colleges. ASA hosts a variety of collaborative events each year, highlighted by an Asian Teahouse and a fall conference.

Black Students’ Alliance (BSA)

The BSA is the oldest of the Unity organizations, and its membership comprises students from many different backgrounds. BSA promotes cultural, social and political awareness throughout the Smith community and has developed strong intercollegiate bonds between all the black student organizations in the Five College area.

Chinese Students’ Association

CSA holds cultural events that spread the spirit of Chinese culture through language, food, art and entertainment. CSA celebrates and increases awareness of Chinese holidays, traditions and culture at Smith and the Five Colleges.

South Asian Student Association of Smith (EKTA)

EKTA—"unity" in several languages spoken in South Asia—is a support network for South Asian students. Its members seek to create an awareness and understanding of the identity and culture of South Asia within the community at large through educational, cultural and social programs.

Indigenous Smith Students and Allies (ISSA)

ISSA is committed to educating the Smith community about social, economic and cultural issues affecting the Native American populations of the United States. 

International Students’ Organization (ISO)

ISO is a haven for international students at Smith and those interested in exploring international affairs from a cultural, political and a social perspective. ISO is a support system for international students at Smith but also seeks to educate and engage the community in appreciating the diversity and unique experiences international students bring to the Smith community.

Korean Students’ Association (KSA)

KSA is a support network for all Korean and Korean American students at Smith, strengthening ties among Asian and Asian American students while addressing specific needs and concerns that support all women of color and the Smith community at large.

Latin American Students’ Organization (LASO)

LASO provides a support network for Latinas. LASO encourages an active cultural exchange between women of different Latina origins and an openness to any Smith student. The group promotes an awareness of social justice issues facing Latinas on campus as well as in the rest of the world. 

Multiethnic Interracial Smith College (MISC)

MISC promotes awareness, discussion, acknowledgement, acceptance and celebration of multiethnic persons, interracial families and relationships, and cross-cultural experiences.

Smith African and Caribbean Students’ Association (SACSA)

SACSA welcomes students of African and/or Caribbean descent and anyone else who is interested in these regions and their unique cultures. It promotes discussions of regional and global issues that are important to the campus community.

Vietnamese Students’ Association (VSA)

VSA provides a supportive network for VSA members and to raise awareness of Vietnamese culture and heritage. We strive to bridge the gap between Vietnamese culture and traditions from Vietnam and America.

Many students also participate in other organizations that support the Smith community of students of color such as the National Society of Black Engineers, Smith Association of Class Activists, PRISM (queer students of color), Weaving Voices and Southeast Asian Alliance (SEAA).

Unity Presidents’ Council

The Unity Presidents’ Council (UPC) comprises the chairs and co-chairs of all 11 Unity organizations and meets weekly.

In 1968, President Jill Kerr Conway answered the calling of Smith’s many African American students for a cultural center by granting them a space in Lilly Hall.  The center was renamed the “Mwangi Cultural Center” in 1973 in honor of Dr. Florence Ng’endo Mwangi ‘61, Kenya’s first female physician.

The Mwangi Center came to be used by all of the college’s student-run cultural programs, but as minority enrollment expanded and the number of groups increased, the space simply became too crowded. After the groups’ many appeals to college officials failed to produce any solutions to this problem, they decided to take measures into their own hands.

On Friday, October 26, 1990, the cultural organizations and their many supporters held a rally demanding more space.  The rally participants marched silently in a single file line through College Hall, and delegates from the different groups camped out in the administrative building for one week.

In January of 1991, President Frances Volkmann brought negotiations with the heads of the cultural groups to a close by granting each group an office in Lilly Hall, where they would also share access to a multicultural library, a social lounge, and a kitchen.  The agreement also gave the groups an additional space for larger meetings and public outreach activities in the carriage house on Bedford Terrace.

The student leaders who had joined together during the struggle decided to call their newly formed umbrella organization Unity, and the Bedford Terrace space was renamed Unity House.  Unity House was renovated in 1999 thanks to the endeavors of Mentha Hynes, Associate Dean of Multicultural Affairs, and the generous support of Ruth J. Simmons, President 1995-2001.

The eleven cultural groups that comprise Unity are

  • Asian Students’ Association (ASA) est. 1985
  • Black Students’ Alliance (BSA) est. 1968
  • Chinese Students’ Association (CSA) est. 2003
  • South Asian Student Association of Smith (EKTA) est. 1988
  • Indigenous Smith Students and Allies (ISSA) est. 1995
  • International Students’ Organization (ISO) est. 1950
  • Korean Students’ Association (KSA) est. 1985
  • Latin American Students’ Organization (LASO) est. 1983
  • Multiethnic Interracial Smith College (MISC) est. 2000
  • Smith African and Caribbean Students’ Association (SACSA) est. 1988
  • Vietnamese Students’ Association (VSA) est. 2004

Unity Award

Presented by the Office of Multicultural Affairs on Ivy Day in May, the award goes to the student who has made the most outstanding contribution toward promoting diversity and multiculturalism in the Smith community.