EWU multicultural center plan upsets some minority students

A proposed renovation of Eastern Washington University’s Pence Union Building has drawn criticism from a coalition of seven clubs and groups that claims the planned multicultural center would be too small.

College officials say they are responding to student needs, and that the proposed renovation will include adequate space for the center.

“It was like a living room,” Jaclyn Archer, a spokeswoman for the Black Student Union, said of the original proposal. “This is not a center; this is a lounge.”

Stacey Morgan Foster, the vice president for student affairs, acknowledged concerns about the size of the center. Plans call for the center to be 873 square feet, although Foster said it could be as large as 2,000 square feet.

“This is actually a project that has a lot of student control,” she said. “I’m actually really glad students are speaking up about what they want in the multicultural center.”

However, members of the coalition said the plan is a reflection of a larger, collegewide lack of support for minority groups.

“I think the concern is the school is very conservative over here,” Sokridanny Bunt said. “I feel like if we don’t make a big deal about it they aren’t going to do anything about it.”

Bunt is a member and officer in the Filipino American club, which is part of the Multicultural Coalition of Eastern Washington University.

Although EWU anticipates project construction will start this summer, Foster said the plans leave room for changes. A number of listening tours and focus groups have been organized, she said. On Wednesday, the university is hosting a small-group work session to “address issues of cultural competency in our classrooms.”

Foster said there have been communication issues between the administration, the student government group and students. The Associated Students of Eastern Washington University were responsible for much of the communication, she said.

“I think it’s a good lesson on how you outreach to people,” she said. “I think there is learning that is going on in many areas in a project like this.”

Associated Students President Kyle Dodson said there could have been more advertising, “but at the end of the day you can only help the willing, as far as students willing to go to those events.”

Dodson said the university has been responsive to the coalition’s requests.

Sophomore Janie Wright, of Planned Parenthood Generation Action, disagrees. She said the university is resisting calls to provide adequate services to its minority students. The communication to the students has been confusing and contradictory, she said, and administrators have not taken student requests seriously.

The listening tours have been poorly advertised, and administrators have ignored a petition circulated by the coalition amassing more than 800 signatures demanding specific space and programs in the multicultural center, she said. Wright and Archer emphasized that the multicultural center would not only be for minority students but would benefit the entire campus.

“It really felt like an appeasement attempt,” Archer said. “Once we started to mobilize they started to backpedal.”

Both Bunt and Wright said the university focuses heavily on recruiting minority students, but then doesn’t provide the resources they need to succeed in college.

“I think EWU has a lot of good things to offer, but it also systemically disenfranchises a part of its student body,” Archer said.

The PUB redesign will cost about $40 million and should be complete in fall 2018.

“It’s never too late to try and improve things,” Foster said.