Multicultural Center

I. Student Legacy behind the Multicultural Center

The student-led fight for a multicultural cen­ter (MCC) on campus has its roots in the struggle of underrepresented and marginal­ized communities at UC Berkeley to create an Ethnic Studies Department.

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A diverse coalition of students came to­gether to form the third world Liberation Front (twLF), demanding that the University acknowledge the histories of communities of color as vital scholarship. After a 3 month strike, the Ethnic Studies Department was created.

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Under the banner of the 1969 twLF, student strikers protested a series of budget cuts to the Ethnic Studies Depratment by hold­ing rallies, sit-ins, building occupations and even a hunger strike. 46 students were ar­rested during a protest at Barrows Hall and 5 students held a hunger strike. 83 more students, including the hunger strikers, were charged with illegally lodging in front of California Hall and were jailed for 14 hours. A multicultural center, among other things, was promised to students by May 2004.

II. Why a Multicultural Center?

Openness

A multicultural center (MCC) with student-initiated pro­gramming will provide an open and accessible space on campus for all students to facilitate necessary education, critical analysis, awareness, and dialogue that can address campus and community issues.

Unity 

An MCC will allow our diverse student body to come together, providing an opportunity for all students to learn, understand, and respect a variety of different perspectives and experiences.

Acceptance 

An MCC, beyond allowing for students to find com­mon ground, will provide an apparatus for accepting one another despite critical differences in opinion, perspective, or world-view.

Relevance

An MCC will allow students to discuss issues that are relevant and important by focusing on the histories of all people, including people of color and other margin­alized communities–histories that are not included in other studies.

Inclusion

An MCC will make UC Berkeley more inclusive by providing a collaborative environment that promotes and affirms equally the human and intellectual heri­tage of all people by including the voices and experi­ences of all people.

Empowerment 

An MCC will empower students to play an active role on campus and in the community. A free, open, and inclusive space will empower students to analyze, or­ganize, and re-organize the model of the University in innovative ways that more successfully address and meet the needs of all students.

III. Current Status: Recent negotiations and plans for the future

The recent history of the Multicultural Cen­ter is all about a “Memorandum of Under­standing” (MOU) that was signed between students and the University in 2005.

In 2005, students and the University came to a compromise: Heller Lounge in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union would serve–temporarily–as the MCC. A new, per­manent MCC was promised by the Univer­sity, either as a part of lower Sproul renova­tion, or independently.

 

Your space. Your campus. Your university. Re-claim it.
Make it happen.