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Cultural House Wall Tapestry

Building a Diverse and Inclusive Community Starts Here

Macalester is a community that intentionally leans into challenging conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion. Mac’s value of multiculturalism inherently means a commitment to cultural competency, building bridges, and reaching out across differences.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Macalester is located in Saint Paul, Minnesota on the ancestral homeland of the Dakota people who were forcibly exiled from the land because of aggressive and persistent settler colonialism. We make this acknowledgment to honor the Dakota people, ancestors, and descendants, as well as the land itself.

DIVERSE VOICES, DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES

Macalester’s student experience is richer, with deeper meaning, when our student body reflects our values.

40%

U.S. STUDENTS THAT IDENTIFY AS PERSON OF COLOR

15%

STUDENTS WHO ARE FIRST GENERATION TO COLLEGE

20%

U.S. STUDENTS THAT ARE PELL GRANT RECIPIENTS

THE MAC COMMUNITY

Macalester values diverse perspectives and backgrounds. Across campus students will find resources to engage in conversation, programming, and community around identities and culture. Support for academic success, and physical and mental well-being is available for students in multiple settings, with intentionally for inclusion and equity.

PARTNERS IN THE COMMUNITY

Macalester is proud to be a partner in the work of College Horizons, Minnesota Association of Counselors of Color, National Hispanic Institute, and QuestBridge. If you are a community-based organization interested in partnering with us, email [email protected].

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE CITIES

Minnesota, the ancestral home to seven Ojibwe (Anishinaabe/Chippewa) reservations and four Dakota (Sioux) communities, became a state through a series of treaties signed with the Native nations in the region. Founded in Minneapolis during the summer of 1968, the American Indian Movement (AIM) jump-started decades of Indigenous activism and cultural revival in the Twin Cities and beyond. Our Native students build community in the Twin Cities through internships with Indigenous-centered organizations, events at the Minneapolis American Indian Center, and by supporting Indigenous cultural arts. Learn more about Minnesota and the Twin Cities Indigenous history. 

In the 1930s, Rondo Avenue was at the core of St. Paul’s largest Black neighborhood. African-Americans who had lived in Minnesota for decades and others who were just arriving from the South made up a vibrant, vital community that was in many ways independent of the white society around it. The construction of I-94 in 1968 shattered this tight-knit community, displaced thousands of African-Americans into a racially segregated and discriminatory housing market, and erased a now legendary neighborhood. While the construction of I-94 radically changed the landscape of the neighborhood, the community of Rondo still exists and its persistence and growth are celebrated through events like Rondo Days and the Jazz Festival. Learn more about Macalester’s partnership with the Historic Rondo Neighborhood.

More recently, many communities of immigrants and refugees have made their home in the Twin Cities. In Saint Paul, you’ll find Minnesota’s Hmong community, the largest urban concentration of Hmong people in the country. In the early 1990s, Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside neighborhood and East Lake Street became home to the largest concentrations of Somali refugees. Mexican and Latinx communities have grown to not only reside in Saint Paul’s West Side or the city of West St. Paul, but also East Lake Street, Nicollet Ave, and Central Ave. 

Minnesota’s cultural landscape continues to grow. Within walking distance of campus, you’ll find a variety of restaurants and cuisines that reflect this, including Ethiopian, Nepali, and Thai. If you are in the area, we recommend visiting Midtown Global Market.

Macalester at Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
Community Outing at Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

Connect with us

Interested in learning more about diversity, equity, and inclusion at Macalester? Feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] and an Admissions representative will be in touch with you.