Around the corner from Java City in Kirkhof, you can find the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), a support system for marginalized student populations. OMA provides students with support in their academic lives, cultural adjustments, and personal life struggles. 

OMA partners with other GVSU departments like the University Counseling Center and the Student Academic Success Center to connect students with additional forms of support. The Director of OMA and assistant Vice president of the Social Justice Centers, Alisha Davis, explains how OMA helps with many aspects of a student's life. 

“We are a higher education institution so it might seem like we would focus more on academic supports, however, a great deal of focus is on those supports pertaining to students’ lives” she explains. 

Aside from academic and personal support, the staff at OMA are advocates for the social justice of marginalized and historically excluded student populations. To help students culturally adjust to college life, OMA aims “to make sure that we are creating socially just environments so that students excel,” Alisha says. 

If you’re looking for support for things that are impacting your academic and personal lives, the staff at OMA are there to listen and connect you with proper advisors, counselors, or simply provide you with advice to help you succeed. 

Student success and wellbeing is the goal for the staff at OMA; Dr. Davis says that the best part of her job is “helping students thrive on campus”. 

OMA hosts tons of events around campus like Native American Heritage Month events, the Teach-In, celebrations during Hispanic Heritage Month, and many more. 

The Office of Multicultural Affairs