From the 1950’s- 70’s, SCU like many places in the country, experienced tremendous cultural and ethnic change. In the 1950’s, the student body was predominately white. After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., in the spring of 1968, SCU called for increased minority admittance. However, minority students on campus were pressured to assimilate to “white” culture and curriculum on campus. In response to racial tensions, minority students felt the need to create The Multicultural Center.
By the 1980’s California’s population had become very diverse. Santa Clara University recruited an increasing number of minority students to diversify the campus community with ethnicity. The MCC was created in the basement of Graham with six minority student organizations (UNITY) in the 1985-1986 academic year. In 1991 the MCC was moved from Graham to Benson Memorial Center, where other student organizations were to have offices.
The MCC’s slogan is “Educate, Challenge, and Empower” and it’s main objective is to provide minority students and organizations with an environment that will allow them to express themselves and foster appreciation for different cultures on campus.
UNITY members in new Benson facilities.
Additional Information:
Santa Clara University Archives: The Multicultural Center’s past documents
Russ Skowronek, Telling the Santa Clara Story, page 188.
The Multicultural Center’s website: http://mcclove.wordpress.com/