The College of William and Mary prides itself on being a welcoming community, upholding its longstanding motto “Who comes here belongs here.” But that belonging looks different for everyone. Groups like the Middle Eastern Student Association seek to ensure that a sense of inclusivity extends toward all members of campus.
Usra Jabri ’28 grew up as the only Middle Eastern, the only Muslim and the only Arabic speaker in her classrooms, which felt isolating at times. She figured college would be different, but it wasn’t right away. Jabri noted feeling disconnected from her culture until she took it upon herself to seek it out on campus. Finding her way to MESA during the club fair this year has helped her reconnect with her culture while away from home.
“I definitely joined the club because being away from home means completely having that cut off from my life,” Jabri said.
Jabri is far from being alone in this experience. Ahaana Oberoi ’28, MESA’s new co-PR chair and an international student from Kuwait, described a similar arrival on campus.
“Freshman year, I came to school feeling very disconnected and feeling very lonely and scared, because I didn’t feel like there were people on campus that I could resonate with,” Oberoi said.
For both members, MESA functions less like a typical club and more like a lifeline to a slice of their community on campus. Jabri’s first taste of the group, an interest meeting with snacks and games, turned into instant friendships.
“We all just really started being friends right then and there,” Jabri said. “Everyone was just super friendly.”
Ask any member to describe a typical gathering, and the answer sounds like an invitation to hangout and enjoy aspects of Middle Eastern culture. To name just a few, henna, chai and cooking nights were regarded as common favorite activities.
Culture Chair Sarah Morid ’27 joined MESA during her freshman year.
“Part of my role is to make sure that we’re representing such a diverse region and making sure we’re just representing that region appropriately, and to the best of our ability and approaching that with humility as well,” Morid said.
Morid spoke candidly about the weight that members carry into a space meant to celebrate and uplift a multitude of cultures.
“Our relationships with our cultures can be complicated by the realities that our people may be facing abroad or at their homes,” she said. “There are moments in celebrating that can feel strange when people that we share a culture, history and home with are facing such uncertainty.”
But Morid doesn’t see this weight as something that diminishes the group. If anything, she noted the opposite.
“Those realities make spaces like MESA more meaningful and not less,” she said. “MESA has given a space where you can hold both of those realities at once. You can acknowledge the difficult realities affecting your communities, but also refuse to let those realities become the only way your cultures are understood.”
In describing what MESA stands for, Morid returned to this idea.
“We’re often reduced to our conflicts, but we’re more than our conflicts. That’s not what defines us,” she said.
Morid further elaborated on the group’s mission to push back on the idea that “Middle Eastern” has to mean any one thing.
“Oftentimes, we group the Middle East into a monolith of one religion, one ethnic group, but the Middle East is very, very diverse. There’s so many different religions, there’s so many different ethnic groups,” she said.
Jabri echoed this point when talking about a common misconception she encounters on campus and beyond.
“Middle Easterners are of all faiths,” she said. “People immediately think that you have to be Muslim, but that’s not true.”
Jabri worries that such assumptions can limit the group in its reach and limit people from joining a group that aims to welcome people.
Similarly, Oberoi hopes to spread the message that MESA is not a closed circle. When asked about attendance or membership, she noted that even people who are not Middle Eastern can get involved.
Jabri echoed the welcoming nature of the group, noting that they appreciate small gestures of curiosity or knowledge from newcomers.
“If a person comes and they say a singular Arabic word, we all just get super happy,” Jabri said.
MESA is still a young organization, and Morid recalled it beginning shortly before she arrived as a freshman. Oberoi, being newer to leadership in the group, said the club’s current executive board has a renewed sense of coordination. She feels optimistic about member engagement and retention, which she noted as issues in the past.
“My fear is toward the middle of the year where things start to get stressful, less people will show up unless more genuine friendships are built where you go meet and engage outside of the club as well,” Jabri said.
MESA has used collaboration with other student organizations to keep events exciting and well-attended. The club has partnered with the Muslim Student Association, Students for Justice in Palestine and other multicultural organizations on campus. Members are especially excited about a possible future collaboration with the Latin American Student Union, Jabri shared.
Since joining MESA, Jabri describes a campus that looks entirely different than the one she had braced herself for.
“I was really afraid of being on campus at first because I really, really expected to be lonely,” Jabri said. “I’ve made so many random friends that now I can walk anywhere on campus and I’ll wave at someone I’ve met every day. There’s familiar faces everywhere now and people to talk to and joke about things that we get about our culture, or even people to practice my Arabic with.”
This is the kind of transformation that MESA’s members hope more students, Middle Eastern or not, will find for themselves.
“We’re so excited for this school year and we hope that people join and keep coming,” Oberoi said.
