Welcome to the latest post in our “About Us” series, which aims to answer frequently asked questions about the HTC and provide more context about our mission at Boston University.
Don’t let our new digs fool you. The HTC’s heart and soul remains unchanged: we are Boston University’s student center for self-exploration and community building.
But what does that mean, really?
For context, let’s think about some of the other student centers on campus. 100 Bay State Road is BU’s center for academic wellness. With the ERC, CCD, and CAS Advising under one roof, there’s no better place to get yourself on the right track. And if you’d like to get yourself on a literal track and focus on your physical health, FitRec awaits. BU also has a number of religious student centers and places of worship on campus that tend to students’ spiritual life.
So, where do you go when you want to focus on your social health and wellness?
The Howard Thurman Center works to help students discover themselves – their values and belief systems, what makes them tick, their needs and wants. We work to create community, providing opportunities for students to meet new people, make friends, hear perspectives that differ from their own, and learn how to navigate difficult and uncomfortable conversations.
And the thing is, that’s not quiet work.
We want students to mix and mingle, connect and create, catch up and debate. We want you to get loud – shout about the greatest rappers of all time, the worst movies ever made, the validity of democracy as a form of government, what happens when we die. We want you to get angry and get organized – launch a movement, plan a protest. We want you to dance and sing – our resident DJ isn’t curating these awesome playlists for nothing.
We want you to do just about anything but sit quietly and study.
Boston University is proud to have 19 libraries on campus, and dozens of other academic buildings. And we highly recommend you use any one of them for homework and quiet study. But when you’re ready to come alive? We’ll be here.