“Unity in the community” is the theme of this year’s Cultures Welcome Night.

The event will be sponsored by the Center for Black Studies, University Resources for Latinos, Unity and Diversity, Center for Latino and Latin American Studies, Jewel/Osco and Eli Lilly.

Formerly known as Minority Welcome Night, the event was created to get minority students to form alliances and succeed academically.

Van Amos, program coordinator for the Center for Black Studies, said the event would be beneficial to new students. He said it will help people of color adjust to campus.

“This will give students exposure to the multi-cultural classes, organizations and experiences,” Amos said, “and enhance relationships among students and faculty.” He also said there would be representation from many cultures at the event.

Monica Trevino, assistant director of University Resources for Latinos, said minorities need to come together. She said this event will help students grow intellectually.

“Even though we are minorities of different backgrounds,” Trevino said, “we all go through the same things, especially here on campus.”

The reigning Queen Mother (Ms. Black NIU) Sharonda Crowder and Miss Latina Janet Rodriguez will introduce the event. There will be more than 25 organizations in attendance at the event.

The groups will have tables so students can come out and learn more about them. There also will be ethnic music as well as R&B, hip-hop, salsa and reggae. There will be food from many countries and ethnicities.

Maurice Culpepper, known as “Ice” on V103 (102.7 FM) will emcee the event. There will be musical performances by the Benny Hill Quartet and two local hip-hop groups, Enterprise and Lyrisis of Chicago. Danca Quente and Rhythm Nation will present a dance performance.

Chris Marshall, vice president of B.R.O.T.H.E.R.S., said students should come to the event to expose themselves to more culture.

“We encourage students to come because there is more to diversity than just being black or Latino,” Marshall said.