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Room Reservations

Reservation Procedure

MSA accepts reservations during the academic year. Reservations will open at the start of the Fall Quarter and will be processed on a first-come first-serve basis throughout the academic year.

Email msa@northwestern.edu with any questions you have.

Virtual EMS

Student Organizations, students, and on-campus departments must have an active Virtual EMS reservation account to reserve space in our three spaces.

Requesting Access for Virtual EMS

Alumni Request for Reservations

Alumni that are interested in reserving space in the MCC, Black House, or Gender and Sexuality Resource Center must submit their request through Alumni Relations and Development.

Our Spaces

MSA’s spaces were won through the courage and determination of student activists to honor the needs of the communities we serve. We ask you to be mindful of the unique legacy of each space when submitting your reservation request. 

The Black House 

Since the early 1970’s, the “Black House” has been a home away from home for Black students at Northwestern. The University created the space in fall 1968 as part of its agreement with students to end the Bursar’s Office takeover in April of that same year. In the “Black Student Statement and Petition to Northwestern University Administrators, April 22, 1968,” students wrote: “We demand a Black Student Union, a place to be used for social and recreational activities. ... Black students have nothing at Northwestern to call our own. We need a place where we will feel free to come and to go as we please.” Since 1968, and then when the Black House moved in 1972, the Black House has been and continues to be that place. 

The Gender and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC) 

The LGBT Resource Center opened in 2003-04 on the third floor of the Norris Center. Students originally called for an entire building to be dedicated to the resource center. Today, the space now known as the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center remains on the third floor of the Norris Center, and is a part of Multicultural Student Affairs.  The GSRC works to provide a safe and affirming space for all members of the Northwestern University campus and acts as a hub for organizations, resources, services, and programs of interest to the Queer, Trans*, and Asexual communities. 

The Multicultural Center (MCC)  

The Multicultural Center was established in 1999 as the result of advocacy from an increasingly diverse student body. Around this time, Latinx students began advocating for a space on campus, and in February 1998 the Associated Student Government unanimously passed the "Where's the Casa?" bill which called on the administration to create a Multicultural Center. A few years earlier, Asian American students advocated for an Asian American advisor position, and in 1995 initiated a 23-day hunger strike that led to the successful establishment of the Asian American Studies Program. The space was used by numerous cultural student groups, and in 2004, responsibility for the Multicultural Center was transferred to Multicultural Student Affairs. 

Room Details

Black House - 1914 Sheridan Road
Gender and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC) - Norris Univeristy Center, 3rd Floor
Multicultural Center (MCC) - 1936 Sheridan Road

Hours of Availability

Please visit our Hours page for a complete listing of our hours of operations at our three spaces.

If you need special access to the buildings outside of these hours, please contact us at msa@northwestern.edu.

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