Multicultural Center Needs More Tolerance

First, before I begin my arguments, I need to clarify this before someone distorts my identity. I am a US citizen. I immigrated to America when I was young. I understand what it's like to live in a third world country, as well as know what it's like to be poor and discriminated against simply for being a minority. I may not be able to feel for those who have had a harder life than me. I think very highly of those people not just because of the hardships, but because they were able to come to the same place I did.

Secondly, I would like to also state that I am in favor of a multicultural center on the UC grounds. The possibilities of such a facility are endless. Aside from being a meeting ground for those underrepresented in society, it would act as a forum for the exchange of ideas from minority points of view, especially those often mischaracterized or ignored. It would behoove ASUC (who currently run the facility) and the university to follow through on the promise that ex-Chancellor Berdahl made to create the facility.

As stated by outspoken members of the group, the objective of the Third World Liberation Front-the group now lobbying for plans for the space- is to make people feel comfortable in the center as well as promote increases in minority representation. But efforts have not been so fruitful just yet.

For one thing, very few people are aware that Heller Lounge is now the Multicultural Center. Believe me, most people do not listen on Sproul, and the only people who know this piece of information are members of TWLF and those in lounging around in the Multicultural Center, caught in the middle of a TWLF meeting or demonstration while trying to cram for midterms. Publicity is key! Ask anyone around campus where the Multicultural Center is. Then ask where Heller Lounge is. Of the people who know where either are, more will probably say that the space in MLK Student Union is Heller Lounge and not the Multicultural Center.

In fact, stopping by the next couple days, I found myself in what felt like Heller Lounge-still only a few people were there studying quietly, while hushed conversations occurred at the door. The only semblance of outrage was the wall, which still had the posters hung up days before.

But the publicity of this has not gone beyond the meetings held in the Multicultural Center and protests on Sproul. I have not yet run into the group elsewhere on campus. I find that the approach does not fully achieve the goals of the TWLF because of two things: antagonizing prospective supporters and not getting the word out more. If they feel the Multicultural Center should be made so that all races are comfortable there, then it doesn't make any sense to make those currently there more uncomfortable. It is not the noise that bothers me-that, I have come to accept in a non-library environment. I am talking more about certain tones the meetings have taken.

When I dropped by in the Center around noon on Wednesday, I sat down studying for a midterm that was going to take place within 20 hours. Every minute was critical. Then, after a policeman dropped in, the TWLF demonstration took place not 10 feet from me. At first, I was a little apprehensive, uncomfortable in the sense that I thought the room would a quiet place to study. But, I felt more at ease as I found more and more of their argument to make sense.

However, one moment did irk me. One of the members of the group demanded, "This is not a study lounge. If you want to study then go to the Eshleman Library!"

That moment in itself made me feel more uncomfortable than studying through the setup of the Monday night meeting-when I was not aware took place in the Multicultural Center. Telling that to everyone currently in the center was the equivalent of being asked to leave a party for being unruly. Except no one did anything to disturb the meeting. No one misbehaved, and there was no need to leave. I was not sitting in any of the seats they were using and I certainly was not making any noise, unless you count page flipping from the reader I was studying from. I feel like I was being treated as a squatter, when even the members of the TWLF freely admit that the center is a place where everyone should feel comfortable gathering.

Honestly, I feel strongly that the Multicultural Center should be renovated and that the group should meet there. But that does not mean those people also using the lounge for other legitimate reasons should be sent packing for simply being there. The center may not be the ideal place to lounge around and rest, but it's still better than most of the places on campus, even with meetings and marches.

Might I suggest that the times of the meetings be posted, so that other students may choose to attend, or find another time to use the center for other purposes? Or even take Sproul tabling further and post people around campus, informing everyone that the Multicultural Center exists? Or even ... making a website so people can judge for themselves on their terms and time. Daily Cal features are simply not enough!

I judge not the legalities of what has been happening. What I will say is that for the message to reach more people, tactics need to evolve. Effectiveness is not simply measured by the loudness of your message.

They stated in their last meeting that people should ask questions. If people do not know what is going on, then no questions will be posed and people will remain forever ignorant.

Tags: