The new PL program for MENA students is coordinated through the Asian American Cultural Center. “The whole reason that I applied to be a MENA PL is because I really wish I had a MENA PL my first year, so just the fact that this is happening made me so excited,” Hatami said. Before the AACC-MENA PL program started this year, there had been just one MENA student serving as an AACC PL for the 2022–23 academic year — Zahra Yarali ’24. However, there was little specialized support for MENA students, and MENA utilization of either Af-Am House or AACC PLs was limited, per Yarali. In 2018, a group of MENA students worked with Yale administration to receive a room at 305 Crown St. to host MENA cultural events.
