For about two years, the Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity has dedicated time to coordinating a community hour, but now have to find a new coordinator.

With no coordinator, James Ochwa-Echel, the director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity, said they could not plan for them in the future. Last academic year, the hours were scheduled to happen at least once a month.

The coffee hours were held in Jackson Avenue Coffee and members of the community and Eastern often stopped by.

Ochwa-Echel said he started the coffee hours in hopes of creating an open dialogue for the Eastern and Charleston community.

“I lost my office support so right now we’re trying to just find someone to coordinate because I have to take on more teaching loads,” Ochwa-Echel said. “Until we find someone, we can’t have them.”

At the next advisor board meeting, Ochwa-Echel said they would discuss who might be able to take the task of coordinating coffee hours.

Ochwa-Echel also said different ideas have emerged from the coffee hours that will link the Eastern and Charleston community together.

One idea, according to Ochwa-Echel, would be a taste of Charleston where the two communities come together and share foods of different cultures. Another idea that was developed was an outreach program where international students go out to the Charleston community and interact with the high school students.

“The bigger picture is that we want to have some type of cooperation where the university is working together with the community,” Ochwa-Echel said.

Kevin Vicker, the director of international students and scholars, said he has been to a couple coffee hours and he thinks the talk helps to give different perspectives from the two communities.

“Sometimes there is the perspective that crimes are committed by EIU students, but it’s not in fact,” Vicker said. “It’s issues like that, that can be discussed.”

These coffee hours were created to reduce any suspicions community members might have about students, Ochwa-Echel said.

“We thought that this was a good way to solve problems in the community before things got out of hand,” Ochwa-Echel.

This is a way to bridge the gap between the Eastern and Charleston community, Ochwa-Echel said. He also said it creates understanding so the community knows the Eastern students are just like them and it helps the Eastern students feel more comfortable about leaving campus.

Ochwa-Echel said the late Mayor Larry Rennels was a “great” supporter of the coffee hours and always provided factual input.

Ochwa-Echel said minority students sometimes feel uncomfortable in the community and there should be a way to live in harmony.

“The minority students that are here on campus are just human beings just like any other person in the community,” Ochwa-Echel said. “The only difference is that they are people of a different color, they don’t know them.”

The last coffee hour was in April 2014.

T’Nerra Butler can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]