Pitt students and community members lobby for nationality room

A group of Pitt students and community members hope that they can make Room 318 of the… A group of Pitt students and community members hope that they can make Room 318 of the Cathedral of Learning the building’s 27th nationality room, the Latin American and Caribbean room.

But the odds are against them. The average wait for a finished project lasts anywhere from eight to 23 years.

The plan for a Latin American and Caribbean heritage room has been on the drawing board for seven years, but it remains just an idea with a few design proposals on paper.

The room could cost as much as a half a million dollars, money that the Latin American and Caribbean community in Pittsburgh must raise.

They also need to come up with an original design and make certain that everything in the room pre-dates 1787, the year the University was founded.

And on top of all that, there are seven other rooms on the drawing board for prospective nationality rooms – the Danish, Finnish, Philippine, Swiss, Thai, Turkish and Welsh rooms.

Director of Nationality Rooms E. Maxine Bruhns – who oversees room tours, inspections and the complicated process committees go through to acquire a room – said that the process is long and hard, but it is worth it, even if students don’t realize that.

“I know students don’t know, they just sit in the room and move on,” she said.

The design must speak to the heart of the culture it represents, through architecture and decorations. And everything contained in the room must come from the actual country or region it represents.

Sometimes, even though committees try to stay true to culture while constructing the rooms, compromises must be made to accommodate the students. The Indian room’s design required placing chairs with desks that fold up, an element that did not coincide with the original plan.

“Sometimes it’s a challenge when you are making a first-century room,” Bruhns said.

Programs that run in conjunction with the nationality rooms offer scholarships to students interested in studying the heritage of the room.

Along with the scholarship programs, the nationality rooms provide a place for members of each cultural community to conduct traditional festivals, concerts and other events.

For example, the English room will present “Mrs. Shakespeare,” a one-woman show, highlighting scenes from famous Shakespearean works.

The nationality rooms in the Cathedral are world famous, and often visited by tourists.

Some other cities – such as Detroit and Houston – have attempted to replicate the program, but Pittsburgh’s remains the largest.