DAC

As some people on campus may have noticed, it is official, the Multicultural center is no longer, but now the Diversity Achievement Center (DAC).

I recently attended an open forum discussing the change, to find many were at a disagreement with many of the decisions. Most people are upset by the removal or relocating of the artifacts that were on display. I decided I wanted my next news story to be on this.

The intentions seem well meaning, broadening services, the sense of community and who makes up that community at LBCC. However, a lot of people, especially those who made some sort of use of the space, feel a bit of loss.

One person suggested that the space could have stayed the same, but simply tracked use and needs by those using the space, or the lack there of by those not, to expand the center as it was.

There were statements of some people or groups feeling they didn't belong in the center. That some groups had seemed to stake claim to the space and they didn't feel welcomed. But as many of the people I've asked about it have expressed, not everyone is going to feel comfortable everywhere they go, and if it had to do with a difference in culture or ethnicity in the center, then all the more reason to maintain it, and make sure those differences, that are growing on campus, continue to be represented.

That does seem to be the center of the problems people have. There seems to be some displacement of the culture and personal touch brought by the students. Some think to expand services other areas on campus already work to help with.

In the end I'm not sure what to think, seeing as its been explained that the center was always open for everyone, that the artifacts were to simply share and educate others about different cultures. I feel the main change is the removal of the artifacts and a renaming. Turning it almost into a center for aid, sholarships, and transfer options, with cultural education on the side.