Pulling out last year's Multicultural Center's calendar, it seems evident to Maggie Chen Hernandez that the students have more than proven their desire and need for a multicultural center.
Almost every day, the large white paper is filled with reservations from different organizations and classes requesting use of the center - space that Chen Hernandez said the center is lacking.
When a free-standing Multicultural Center was first proposed in the early 1990s, advocates for the facility requested about 11,000 square feet of space, based on research of similar centers at other Big Ten schools across the country, said Chen Hernandez, who is the associate director of the Office of Racial Ethnic Student Affairs.
The current center, located in the basement of the Union, has about 3,000 square feet.
Last year, representatives from the Council of Racial Ethnic Students, or CORES, met with the MSU Board of Trustees to discuss the possible implementation of a multicultural center building to be included in the "2020 Vision" plan to renovate campus by the year 2020.
Chen Hernandez said hope for the creation of a new center is alive and well in the students who utilize the current facility.
Misty Staunton, the at-large student liaison to the Board of Trustees, uses the Multicultural Center almost daily. Overcrowding is an issue when the conference rooms are in use, the family community services senior said.
"The size is good for what it was intended for," Staunton said. "It was a start-up. We've grown out of it and it needs to be bigger."
Some of Staunton's and other students' largest concerns regard the importance they believe the university places on having a Multicultural Center.
By not committing to the possible creation of a building in the future or recognizing the need for a new space, Staunton said the university is not viewing culture and race as part of its academic priorities.
However, Lee June, vice president for student affairs and services, said he understands responses like this, but even though the center has been very successful in its goals, it must be considered in the context of other competing interests.
"When it was officially reviewed not too long ago, it was meeting its purpose but had need for expansion. It was provided with additional space in the Union at that time."
June said there is possibility for expansion in the future, but there are currently no definitive plans to change the center's location.
Jeff Kacos, director of Campus Park and Planning, is doubtful that a new center will be available in the near future.
"Because of the budget, there's a bit of a lull in building," Kacos said. Most large projects, including stadium renovations and the parking ramp, have other sources of funding, he said.
Chen Hernandez and Staunton both said they understood the budget crisis made it more difficult to expect the creation of a new center any time soon, but added that the groups who use the center need more resources and space to bring it up to the standards of other regional schools.
