Program History

With histories dating back 25 and 50 years, The Multi-Racial Unity Living Experience and Intercultural Aide Programs hold long-term, grassroots records of working to bridge racial divides on Michigan State University's campus.

MRULE 1996

Both the MRULE and ICA programs, before they merged, have long histories of creating opportunities for students to build community across difference and increase intercultural engagement on Michigan State University's Campus. Both programs were co-created by Dr. Richard Thomas, a professor a historian specializing in interracial unity and Black Detroit. The programs became one joint program in 2014.

Here is how it all began…

• 1969 | Birth of the Intercultural Aide (ICA) Program

  BSA student leaders Don Coleman and Richard Thomas wrote a proposal in an attempt to retain black students at MSU. The program began as Black Student Aide Program and adapted with time to include Asian Pacific American, LatinX, and Native American students. In 2011 the program morphed in the Intercultural Aide program to be inclusive of all students.

• 1996 | Birth of Multi Racial Unity Living Experience
  Co-founders Jeanne Gazel and Richard Thomas create MRULE, facilitating student discussion around social issues and other controversial topics. Program began with 24 participants.
• 1998 | Beginning of MRULE Student Leaders
  MRULE student leaders begin taking on facilitating roundtable discussions, along with the other three components of the program: service, socials, and community building trips.

  

• 1999 | MRULE Expands to 5 Buildings on Campus
  MRULE groups expand to five buildings: Akers, Brody, Shaw, West Circle and Wilson.
• 2004 | Academic Partnerships Begin
  Integrative Studies, Teacher Education, and Sociology classes integrate MRULE RTD participation into their curriculum. 

  

• 2007 | Founding of the Unity Project

  The Unity Project was a pilot learning community formed with 10 individuals from the MRULE, ICA, and REHS communities. The project laid the foundation for the MRULE-ICA Program Fusion.

• 2013 | Mosaic: The Multicultural Unity Center Opens on the 2nd Floor of the Student Union
  After 14 years of being located in the basement of the MSU Union, Mosaic moves to a more prominent location on the second floor.

  

• 2014 | MRULE & ICA Fusion
  The Intercultural Aide and MRULE program fuse with a new vision.

  

• 2015 | mruleICA Program Continued Expansion

  MRULE-ICA program grows from 4 to 11 RTDs per week.

  

• 2020 | mruleICA Adapts to COVID-19 and Goes Virtual
  MRULE-ICA adapts to remote learning and takes RTD's online.