Representatives from the Multicultural Student Center met UW-Madison officials and representatives from the Associated Students of Madison Tuesday to advocate for cultural centers for groups who will be displaced from their Red Gym locations by construction this summer.
Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Berquam and Vice Provost Patrick Sims, among others, met with students who are interested in creating additional spaces for underrepresented communities on campus, according to UW-Madison spokesperson Meredith McGlone.
“They discussed potential use of several spaces in the Red Gym on the mezzanine level,” she said. “No decisions have been made yet — we'll be continuing to work on this through the semester and into the summer.”
The meeting was a follow-up to a discussion that began in February at the campus climate survey forum, McGlone said. During those talks, Sims, Berquam and student representatives from the multicultural center discussed financing new multicultural centers for underrepresented groups on campus.
The talks come after the Division of Student Life created the Black Cultural Center last fall.
Student groups, however, are concerned that language surrounding the creation of cultural centers prioritizes some students over others, forcing students of color to compete for resources, according to an agenda obtained by The Daily Cardinal.
According to the agenda, students entered the meeting with long-term goals of improving communication between student groups and administration, advocating for stronger administrative responses to hate and bias incidents and renewed commitment to ending racism on campus. They hoped to discuss questions of space allocations during the Red Gym remodeling project slated for this summer.
“We as a coalition of Asian Pacific Islander Americans, Latinx, Native American and black students went into this meeting with the purpose of talking about cultural centers,” said APIDA coordinator Riley Tsang. “We had a fruitful conversation and we’re excited about the prospect of the continuing talks with administration about what we can do to make sure students of color are better supported on this campus.”
UPDATE April 11, 2018 at 11:09 a.m.: This article was updated to clarify that the Division of Student Life created the Black Cultural Center.
