New center brings multicultural flair

February 26, 2009 by Joseph Romero 

UNLV President David B. Ashley key supporter of new facility

It has been a long time coming, but multiculturalism has an official home at UNLV with yesterday’s grand opening of the Multicultural Center-Centro Multicultural.

UNLV Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Christine Clark opened the ceremony, congratulating those involved in the creation of the new center. 

One of the contributors was President David B. Ashley, who has long supported the idea of a having multicultural center on campus. 

“This center was born as a protest,” Ashley said. “There was a need in the community that people needed to exchange ideas.” 

“[We] are a powerful force, a powerful reminder [that] we can go farther.” 

Harrah’s Entertainment Vice President of National Diversity Relations Tony Gladney was the Center-Centro’s opening ceremony’s keynote speaker.

“The [Center-Centro] creates a great base for student awareness and learning,” Gladney said. 

“For me there are things that I didn’t learn until I was an administrator in campus affairs, but these students are going to be able to gain that knowledge before I got it,” he said. 

Tegan Stover, a public relations major, has high hopes for the building. 

“I hope that it encourages people to learn more about other cultures,” she said. 

Representatives from various campus cultural organizations attended the opening. Ellen Huang, president of the UNLV Japanese Club was supportive of the concept of a central campus location in support of multiculturalism. 

“It will bring all the multicultural organizations together,” Huang said.

The building will immediately be put to use by student organizations, including Raising Our Asian Rights, the Student Organization of Latinos, the United Coalition for Immigrant’s Rights and the Native American Student Association.

Although the building is meant to represent multiple cultures, its bilingual name has attracted some attention from students who feel it is not inclusive enough.

However, Clark does not think of it as controversy. 

“What we need to do is find a way to support everybody so they feel affirmed and comfortable to come through the door,” Clark said. “But we also need to challenge people to grow and develop in relationship to these issues of diversity and inclusion.” 

She added, “I would argue that English only is less inclusive than Spanish and English and we will add more languages over time.” 

“For the most part, everything on this campus is English only, so is that inclusive or exclusive?” asked Jose Melendrez, assistant vice president for diversity and inclusion. 

“We’re open to dialogue. That’s what diversity is all about. If anybody wants to know why we’re doing what we’re doing or how we’re doing it then we invite him or her to come and talk to us to see how we move it all forward.”

Gladney was supportive of the discussion generated by the building’s name.

“At the end of the day, without the existence of [the Center-Centro] there would be no dialogue on these issues,” he said.

“Our focus is to make sure positive things help to empower students and diversity in general.”