Program Coordinator for the Intercultural Community Center (ICC) Katrina Weti’s ’22, last day at Occidental was Sept. 30. According to Weti’s co-worker and the ICC’s lead Equity Ambassador Sueli Zalazar (senior), Weti formed the backbone of the ICC.
Weti said that the position of Program Coordinator was offered to her as a temporary position and that she reached the end of her contract.
Associate Director for Racial Justice Robin Maxile said that Weti’s work at the ICC transcended the space and made it what it is today. Maxile also said that she will miss the energy that Weti brought to the ICC and said that there isn’t a single person in the Occidental community that Weti has not touched.
Weti said that she started working at Occidental as the Program Coordinator for the ICC in August 2022. As Program Coordinator, Weti said that she collaborated with other departments on programming events for the community and supervised student staff in their program development and personal development. She said that she also conducted one-on-one check-ins and group discussions to support students’ — especially BIPOC students’ — emotional well-being.
Weti said that another important part of her role was leading discussions and organizing events for the Multicultural Summer Institute (MSI) program, a four-week academic program in the summer that helps first-generation and historically underrepresented students prepare for college. Weti said that since then, she has helped organize monthly MSI community dinners during the school year.
“With Katrina’s help we went from having five students at our events to having 30. Through Katrina’s work we got other specific culturally identified events — we had the Black Legacy Dinner, we had the EveryBODY Collective,” Maxile said. “There’s so much more that Katrina has contributed to this space and I don’t know if I’ve truly touched the surface of it. I think her role is pivotal to the way that we are able to be there for students.”
While at Occidental, Weti said she majored in Diplomacy & World Affairs and double minored in Black Studies and Economics. When she started working at the ICC, Weti said she wanted to improve the ICC to reflect what she needed when she was a student.
“When I went through Oxy, the ICC did not necessarily function the way that it does now. It wasn’t always a space where you could come in and there’ll be people saying, ‘Hi, I’m excited to see you,’ or who would include you in their conversations,” Weti said. “It wasn’t a place where there were programs going on where you could go and have discussions about colorism or have discussions about different things that affect us on campus.”
Weti said that her work at the ICC was out of the personal desire to allow students of color to feel authentically themselves and confident in their skin at an institution that is not necessarily built for them.
“Students need a space where they can just be themselves fully, and don’t have to feel like they are wearing a mask because I feel like for me going through Oxy, there were times where I felt like I had to let go of pieces of who I am to make it through the day especially as a Black woman at a PWI,” Weti said.
Maxile said that Weti helped plan MSI community dinners, Black Panther Movie Night, Tiger Pride Tapas and other events with student organizations on campus.
Co-worker Autumm Battles (sophomore) said she worked with Weti to plan her Collective Care, Protective Styles 101—an ICC event where she invited people who identified as Black and taught them how to cornrow and braid.
“She and Robin made the ICC feel like a space that wasn’t part of the institution, it is a community space where people of color in particular can come in and belong,” Battles said.
According to Zalazar, Weti taught them the importance of self-advocacy and pride in one’s identity. Zalazar and Battles said that Weti told them to value themselves and made them feel like they belonged.
“A lot of the work she does often goes unnoticed,” Zalazar said. “But when people come to the events and say, ‘Oh that was so fun’ — most of the time that is due to Katrina’s work.”
Caitlin Joy Cabanilla (junior) is the Program Coordinator for Student Leadership, Involvement, & Community Engagement. Cabanilla said that she was a MSI participant in 2021 when Weti was the RA.
“Katrina was always a champion for the students. Even during her time here, she was very active and involved around campus, she did O-Team and was a part of BSA,” Cabanilla said. “She carried that spirit with her into the work that she did as a Program Coordinator, she was always advocating for us because her connection to the students and past experiences allowed her to be that voice for us in spaces where students couldn’t be a part of. Her work was always influenced by her love for students.”
Weti said she has bittersweet feelings about leaving Occidental as she is grateful for her experiences with students, but that it’s time for her to move forward.
“I want to leave a legacy that encourages students to kind of pass down the knowledge and the things that help them get through and to always be willing to be that helping hand for people,” Weti said.
Contact Jameela Bowo at bowo@oxy.edu
