It can be hard to fit 14 clubs under one umbrella: If an effective system is not in place, some are bound to be stuck in the rain. What holds together the 15 clubs of the Intercultural Center (ICC) is its programming board, consisting of two co-chairs, a secretary, a representative from each ICC club and at-large representatives from the Brandeis community. "We're essentially the heart of the ICC," said Brandon Luk '06, co-chair of the Student Programming Board. Luk and co-chair Jin Kim '07, along with secretary Hemang Kotecha '07, serve as liaisons between the ICC clubs and ICC Director Suzie Talukdar, as well as administrators and other organizations on campus.

"One of our main goals is to see if the ICC groups are healthy," Kim said. The programming board works to keep the individual clubs in touch with each other and to resolve any conflicts between groups. The board also helps ICC clubs sponsor events.

The chairs are not allowed to serve on the executive boards of any ICC clubs, but the secretary can; Kotecha is currently the ICC representative for the South Asian Students Association.

The ICC's role, according to the board's members, is to educate Brandeis about the cultures that the ICC represents. "[The ICC] is a way for people of the same ethnicity to get together and share their culture with the rest of the campus," Kotecha said.

Kim added that the ICC aims to teach about "the beauty of culture" and about "what's offensive, what's not."

At the same time, the organization is also a family for the students who join. "We're all in the same boat, as minorities," Kim said.

Arjan Singh Flora '07, one of the four current at-large representatives to the programming board, grew up in a diverse part of Los Angeles, where he was exposed to a variety of cultures: Mexican, Korean, African-American and his own family's Punjabi culture.

"The ICC helped me find a home away from the home," he said, because it provided the same type of blend.

Though the ICC celebrates cultural diversity, it is open to all students.

"There is a stigma that unless you're a minority, you don't belong there," Luk said. He explained that this is not true. Many club members, and even executive board officers, are not minorities. There is also cross-membership between ICC groups; Luk served on four ICC executive boards last year.

Talukdar said that when the ICC was created, it was deliberately named the intercultural center-and not the multicultural center-to reflect the desired contact and collaboration between students from different backgrounds.

"I see [the ICC] as a resource for all students... but not everyone sees it that way," Talukdar said.

In addition to cultural information, Talukdar mentioned the lounge space, computer cluster, small library and video and magazine collections.

This year, one of the ICC's major goals is more integration with the greater Brandeis community, through co-sponsored events and better communication. "More outreach to other aspects of the Brandeis campus is a must," Singh Flora said. Already, the ICC played a kickball game with Hillel. Similar events are planned for next semester.

Kim added that another way he would like to the see the ICC grow is for it to help expand the academic curriculum. Korean language classes will be offered next semester, which Kim said is a start, but he said he wishes there were classes that examined a mixture of history and current affairs: for example, the evolution of stereotypes, bias and culture over time.

Overall, though, the goal of integration emerged as a priority in discussions-both between members of different ICC clubs and between the ICC community and the rest of Brandeis.