On Nov. 21, students will gather in the Student Activities Center from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m for Gunn’s first Culture Night. The idea was proposed by the Student Executive Council (SEC) Diversity Commissioners with the intent to promote cultural diversity on campus through a monthly social event. “Each month, we will host one night dedicated to a culture,” junior Diversity Commissioner Teklehaymanot “TK” Yilma said. “We will [plan the evenings in collaboration] with the students at Gunn from that culture.”

Senior Diversity Commissioner Ahmad Fayad said he hopes that the Culture Nights will expose students to different cultures and leave them more informed of other students’ various backgrounds. “The purpose of Culture Night is to raise awareness of other cultures,” Fayad said. “Hopefully students will learn and become more educated about other cultures to get rid of stereotypes.”

The first Culture Night will focus on Indian culture. With assistance from the South Asian Student Association (SASA), the evening will consist of Indian food, dancing, music, fashion show and movie. “SASA [is] a big help and is also present and providing us with the music, movie and the like,” Yilma said.

Attending Culture Night will cost five dollars. Yilma said that student attendance, not money, is the main objective for the first Culture Night. The proceeds will go to the SEC. “We are not setting for a profit for this one,” Yilma said. “Its purpose is to spread diversity.” According to Fayad and Yilma, future Culture Nights will depend on the outcome of the first. Experiences drawn from Indian Culture Night will help the Diversity Commissioners plan other Culture Nights. “We don’t want to lose a lot of money from the Student Body account, so we will see how this one turns out,” Yilma said.

“It’s just like a new artist coming up,” Yilma added. “Culture Night is very new; Indian Night is the first [Culture Night]. Every new singer comes up with a new song. They try to make it a really good song so that people would want more. Same with Culture Nights. We will try to start something really good so that people will like it and come to the other ones.”