EAST LANSING — Plans for a free-standing multicultural center at Michigan State University are moving forward after years of demands to bring one to campus.
A planning committee is seeking a firm to conduct a project feasibility study, and MSU President Samuel Stanley at a Feb. 14 Board of Trustees meeting said he hopes to see a recommendation for multicultural center plans by December.
"It has to be structured so all have a sense of belonging on campus," said Miracle Chatman, a senior from Detroit and a student representative on the planning committee. People of color on campus "don’t have an actual community. This will highlight cultures and give them a place on campus and give them a sense of belonging."
Opening a multicultural center was part of a 50-point plan to fight racism released by MSU in 1989 in the wake of black student protests. It took the university until 1999 to open one, and many students would argue in the years to come that its location in the basement of the MSU Union didn't make it a particularly visible part of campus. It was moved to a space on the second floor of the Union 14 years later.
A series of racist incidents at MSU this school year helped fuel the call for a new facility.
Black students discovered a noose fashioned from toilet paper taped on their dorm room door in October, a survey circulated with racist language also in October and, most recently, a Wharton Center gift shop display featured ornaments depicting historical black figures hanging from a rack resembling a tree in January.
“The numerous racial incidents further explain and illustrate the current state of the campus climate and it furthers the needs for education and furthers the need for this building,” Chatman said.
Creating the space starts with finding a spot to locate it, said Paulette Granberry Russell, director of the MSU Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives and the senior adviser to the president for diversity.
It could mean erecting a stand-alone building, renovating an existing building, or building an addition, she said.
Students have envisioned opportunities for classes, symposiums, and forums taking place inside, Granberry Russell said, while also creating chances for social support for students and faculty.
It should also be a place where students and staff can display their culture and come to learn about the cultures of others at MSU, Chatman said.
“We want this center to be education for all and shift the campus climate,” she said. “Where people will be able to come in and learn about different communities.”
It's important to have a standalone building, Chatman said, so students have a centralized location and so there's enough space to offer the services and activities they're hoping for.
"If it’s half of a building, there’s no way it’ll be able to fit half of the things we’re asking for," she said. "Like auditorium space that holds at least 1,000 people."
Granberry Russell expected proposals for the feasibility study to be submitted by Tuesday. She said the budgets for the study and for the project itself will not be known until after proposals come in for the study.
The committee is looking at architecture options for the multicultural center now and hopes to have a firm selected by the end of the month to complete the feasibility study, Chatman said.
Chatman’s hope is that a larger multicultural center will improve the college experience for MSU students of color and she believes it could help to raise retention rates.
Just 61% of black students who started at MSU in 2013 had graduated by 2019, according to MSU data, compared with 67% of Native American students graduated and 69% of Hispanic students. Some 84% of white students graduated in that same time span.
Achievement gaps are common at schools across the country. White students who entered college in 2012 graduated at a 72% rate, according to a 2019 National Student Clearinghouse report. Black students graduated at just 48% during the same period.
A multicultural center could play role in reducing those achievement gaps at MSU by providing a place where students of color could come for support and access programming designed to help students from diverse communities stay on track to graduate, Chatman said.
The committee hasn’t thoroughly researched programming possibilities, she said. They could look to existing multicultural centers, like the one at the University of Michigan, which offers programming at its multicultural center that focuses on student wellness, inclusive leadership, religious and spiritual identity, music, arts and food.
A multicultural center could bring in programming already offered at MSU to one place, Chatman said.
“What we’re looking at is creating a space that would provide for all students on campus … that helps to advance diversity at MSU,” Granberry Russell said. “They want a facility that allows individuals … to engage across cultural differences, to basically support our goal of our students to engage globally.”
The study and possible construction and opening of a potential multicultural center wouldn’t come until after Chatman graduates. She said the work she is doing is still worth it.
“I’m not only doing it for myself, I’m doing it for my community. I know how hard it can be,” she said. “I want the people who come in after me not to have to deal with the detriment to the experience I have. These incidents … really made my college experience negative. I don’t want that to happen to people in my community that come after me.”
Contact Mark Johnson at 517-377-1026 or at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.
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