Issue date: 4/25/07 Section: Opinion

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Ricky Gutierrez, a student assistant at the Multi-Cultural Center, "sees the center as being a venue for students organizing. With the way things are structured, people don't have a place to congregate, don't have a place to converse about underrepresented faculty, address the issue of racism."

Maribel Rosendo-Servin, a senior sociology major, believes that the center "can be a place where everyone comes together and understands each other's diversity."

Analia Mendez, Interim Director of the Multi-Cultural Center since Jan. 22, said that it is her commitment to make the center "stronger, better and have a permanent director."

These three vision statements are by no means mutually exclusive. I bet people wonder what all the fuss is about.

Those who went to the open forum April 13, read the articles about the center throughout the year, or witnessed the demonstrations held by C-COLORS, might perceive the student activists as meddlesome kids acting out of turn.

When I look at C-COLORS, I see a group of students who have continuously fought for both something they believe in and a place they call home here on campus. However, I also see a group of students still fighting for survival when they've already won the war. It is now time for reparations.

Eight months ago, C-COLORS - a group of students fearing a possible phasing out of the Multi-Cultural Center from Student Affairs and the university as a whole - began to demonstrate in order to save the center. The main reason for its exertion was a lack of a permanent director.

According to Vice President of Student Affairs Lori Varlotta's "Destination 2010/Student Affairs" actualization plan, the charge of "developing programs for academic year 2006-07" for the center was put in the hands of a "student programming group." As leadership changes occurred, full-time students shouldered the entire workload of the center. That's a problem.

The larger problem came from seven months of stagnation, degradation and uncertainty. During this time, the Library Java City sipped up a large portion of the Multi-Cultural Center. And there was no director in place to lobby for the space.

"The space has decreased," said senior government major Joaquin Castañed. "There were 35 organizations occupied in that space. Not a single one is now," said Castañed.

With the loss of space and leadership, C-COLORS attacked the center's "blighted condition" with the same activist mentality that it used to fight racism and sexism. It willed the issues confronting the center into the Library Quad and into articles in The State Hornet, catching the attention of administrators, Associated Students Inc., the entire campus community. Isolated in its war of attrition, Sacramento State's equivalent of the 47 Ronin battled for the Multi-Cultural Center, believing it was on its way to oblivion.

Student Affairs recognized the need for leadership in the center, and it responded by hiring an interim director, Analia Mendez. Her hiring did nothing to clear the air, having taken place during the Winter Break when students were out. And to C-COLORS, the word "interim" reeked of "temporary," the position certifying for it that the center was still on the verge of termination.

With the recent history of the Multi-Cultural Center, I can see the why that connection was made.

But that connection is broken, and the center is not going anywhere.

Analia Mendez has handled complaints against the center. Charges of racism against staff housed in the center are being investigated in-house, as is appropriate. The "sign-in" system is gone. I can see how "the wall" creates space for desks and chairs.

But calling the police to secure the area from a peaceful sit-in. Um. That was a mistake. Especially by a program of Student Affairs. Especially by a program that has housed student activists since 1989.

Ed Jones, the relatively new Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, has created an advisory board, which is made up of representatives from the faculty, the university's administration, program administration, ASI and others to determine the qualifications the next director of the center should have.

Administration may have acted only after James Kitchen made his report, but that's not the point. The point is that administration hired a neutral party to assess the center - thanks in large part to the student coalition's own report. Administration will be held accountable for whatever report it acts on; it has to have its own investigator.

One last bit: It would be a grave injustice to have an advisory board to the center without C-COLORS representation. If it weren't for the efforts of these student activists, I wouldn't have given the center a first thought, let alone a column.

Besides, there is no better student body to fight for more space.

Frank Loret de Mola can be reached at opinion@statehornet.com

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