Emily Rowe, president of the University Students’ Council, made the Ethnocultural Support Service one of her standout platform points during election season last year. Now the plan is finally realized and the service is expected to launch next year with a mission, vision and strategy determined to improve ethno-multiculturalism on campus.

The Ethnocultural Support Service has the potential to make waves in Western’s vast and sometimes divided ethnocultural scene. Its broad mandate to “enhance multiculturalism on campus” is vague but forgivable considering its infancy. With the potential to focus on everything from education to mediation, the USC needs to shore up the service’s goals so it can make a real difference next year.

One of its greatest strengths is a budget, which allows the service to support smaller clubs financially while organizing the USC’s ethnocultural goals in one centralized, cohesive unit. Run by an executive team and co-ordinator, the service will hopefully provide a network of dedicated students that club members will feel comfortable approaching with ideas and concerns.

As an educational tool, the service should aim to bring in speakers on ethnocultural issues and invite interested clubs to participate. Paying for experts to speak about contentious issues could encourage feuding groups to sit together under a single roof.

The service also has political potential — whether good or bad. Some ethnocultural groups have long-standing feuds that often reach a boiling point on campus. Western needs a place to discuss these issues formally with a third party mediator — something the Ethnocultural Support Service should consider as its responsibility.

An unbiased voice would provide facts instead of arguments and encourage these groups to communicate. It’s possible the most contentious clubs could dominate the mediator’s time, while others might avoid the formalized process altogether. History has shown a consistent need for an unbiased voice. It’s time to bring reason and sensibility back into the discussion and the service must strive to do this.

While a mediator role is necessary, it’s important to recognize the challenges it presents. Trying to make it the Switzerland of Western is a lofty goal. Finding a strong-willed executive to neutrally run the service will be even harder. When dealing with feuding ethnocultural groups, it’s often impossible to make everyone happy. If the service funds one group over another, it could face criticism and calls of discrimination.

But this is no excuse for not trying. While its mission is vague and its uses are unclear, the new support service offers an added voice to the diverse ethnocultural groups and clubs around campus.

—The Gazette editorial board