MultiCultural Center elects new director
By ALEXANDRA TIEU
With a new central location on campus, the MultiCultural Center announced Elias Portales as the organization's new director.
Portales played a leading role in helping the MCC successfully win their appeal after a three-day demonstration last spring.
His role in the demonstration lead to his current interest in directing the Center, according to Portales.
"The protest last spring is what made me want to step up to the plate and make a change," Portales said.
Portales is a senior political science major with a long list of accomplishments. His experience ranges from being president of Alpha Sigma Nu (Jesuit Honor Society), to interning for Mayor Gonzales. Portales also received recognition as one out of 30 people in the nation to receive "Sagner," a political science fellowship. The all expense paid fellowship, which took place in Massachusetts, was an intensified three-week course addressing and debating political issues. The majority of students selected for the fellowship were from universities such as Harvard, Yale, Cornell and Stanford.
"I feel that the education here is excellent," Portales said. "The things I've learned at Santa Clara have prepared me for this challenge."
Associated Students President Javier Benavidez is confident in Portales' abilities as the new director.
"Elias has a bona fide conviction toward following his heart and standing for what he believes in his heart to be right," Benavidez said.
Even though support was mixed during last spring's demonstration, Portales hopes to alleviate any lingering animosity as director. He also hopes that students will take advantage of the opportunities and resources that the MCC has to offer.
"Seeing that both ends were on the same page, the success of the demonstration was simply a matter of bringing the students and the administration together to the table to realize that we share a principal interest in advancing diversity and multiculturalism at SCU," Benavidez said.
Portales plans to promote the Center to as much of the student body as possible."With our new location, the MCC can now be included in the freshmen orientation tour of the campus, and be recognized as a strong part of the SCU community," Portales said. In addition to Portales's strong belief in Jesuit principals he also takes great pride in being a part of Santa Clara as he leads MCC.
"A lot of the leadership within MCC is empowered by Jesuit beliefs, because it encourages us to convince other people why they should care," Portales said.