MCC celebrates 25th anniversary
By Lauren Tsugawa
"It feels good to be back," said RJ Payomo, smiling. Payomo, who graduated from Santa Clara in 2000, journeyed back to his old stomping grounds along with dozens of other alumni for Santa Clara's Alumni Grand Reunion this past weekend. For Payomo and many others, however, the highlight of the weekend was not the tasty food, bumping music or the free pony rides, but the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Santa Clara's Multicultural Center.
Now located in Shapell Lounge, adjacent to the bookstore, the MCC is home to 10 minority student organizations, including the original six that created UNITY some 25 years ago: the Arab Cultural Society, Asian Pacific-Islander Student Union, Barkada, Chinese Student Association, Igwebuike, Intandesh, Japanese Student Association, Kamana'o O Hawai'i, MEChA El-Frente, and Vietnamese Student Organization. Together, these student-run clubs continue to implement cultural awareness on campus and throughout the Santa Clara community through social events and community outreach programs.
"The MCC has been really important in shaping who I have become over the past three years," said senior Isabel Duron, the current director of the MCC. "We want students to understand that the MCC is an advocate for students of color."
The 25th Anniversary celebration began at 10:00 a.m. where it all began: the Graham Hall basement. Cultural performances and speeches by alumni, current members of the MCC and faculty provoked an emotional and silent reminiscence of the struggles that students of color faced 25 years ago, and continue to face today.
At 11:00 a.m., the group walked from Graham to Shapell Lounge to commemorate their momentous relocation. There, each club presented their gratitude to the alumni for their undying support as well as their plans for the upcoming school year. This year, the MCC as a whole is centered around the theme of "Building Community: Sharing in One Another's Struggles," and hopes to mandate diversity training for all incoming freshmen sometime in the near future.
For many students of color, the MCC has done much more than provide the means by which they can share their voices.
"I really feel like this place became a home away from home," commented junior Marc Nakashima. "I met a lot of people here who have become my really good friends, and at the same time, the MCC has allowed me to develop as a leader."
After the presentations, students, faculty and alumni mingled to IZ's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," talking, laughing and reliving their memories.
MCC History
The MCC can be traced back to a group of six non-affiliated minority student organizations - the Asian Pacific-Islander Student Union, Barkada, Chinese Student Association, Igwebuike, and Kamana'o O Hawai'i - whose offices were located in the basement of Dunne Hall.
It was not until the clubs were forced to relocate in 1985 that they came together under the name UNITY to fight for their right to have a new workspace on campus. Together, they composed a 21-page proposal advocating for the creation of Santa Clara's first Multicultural Center.
"People don't know what the MCC had to go through to get this space," remarked Ryan Dilag, '10, former Assistant Advisor to the MCC. "It hurts, but it's a good hurt. It's an emotional experience to come back as an alumnus and as a graduate student, but look at where we are now, how far we have come."
Though it faced much resistance, the MCC opened its doors for the first time that same year in their new location in Graham's basement and though they were satisfied with the new location, they oontinued to search for a bigger area. The first student-run organization of its kind, the MCC blossomed, slowly but surely, and finally gained direct funding from the university in 1991.
Yet, despite the efforts of the MCC, racial tensions in the Santa Clara community endured. Seeing this only as a challenge to expand their reach, the students of the MCC began to push for a larger, more centrally located facility to house their growing organization.
A devastating blow came in 1999, when restructuring of the university budget resulted in the purge of many university positions, including Student Resource Center positions crucial to the supervision of the MCC. This obstacle, along with their denied request for relocation, provoked some 250 students to rally on June 2, 1999, in what would come to be known as "Unity 3."
Marching through campus wearing yellow armbands and black t-shirts as a symbol of their camaraderie, these students called for complete MCC access to Shapell Lounge, the creation of an Ethnic Studies Department in the university, and the absolute reinstallation of the recently cut university positions pertaining to the MCC.
Three days after their astounding petition, the MCC was granted partial exclusive access to Shapell Lounge, as well as promised support from the Provost committees to create a proposal for an Ethnic Studies department by June of that year.
Though the offer didn't meet their demands exactly, the MCC nevertheless gained a tremendous victory. Seniors this year will be the first graduating class to support the Ethnic Studies major at the university.
Then and Now
"Everyone has their own perception of the MCC," said Payomo, who was the director of the MCC in 2000 subsequent to its move to Shapell. "Some see it as a retreat, a political organization, or even as a party. It's good to come back and see how it's changed, and yet how it's essence remains the same. The MCC is still doing what it set out to do, and it feels good."
Today, the MCC continues to provide Santa Clara with one of its most prized facets, the ability to educate an ethnically diverse student body.
"The MCC is a wonderful presence on campus," voiced Professor Ana Maria Pineda of the Religious Studies department. "It is vital to so many different communities and brings perspectives and realities to the university to what we hope it represents and what it will become."
Contact Lauren Tsugawa at ltsugawa@scu.edu or (408) 551-1918.