Sacramento State’s Multi-Cultural Center may have lost its focus, according to a group of students who are claiming the center is not doing enough to retain students of color.

Students and faculty formed the group ?” called Coalition for Cultural Opportunities in Leadership and Overall Retention of Students (C-COLORS) ?” three weeks ago.

Members of this group are demanding that the Multi-Cultural Center take more steps to retain students of color and begin a search for a permanent director.

They also say the Multi-Cultural Center should serve as a hub for the various ethnic student groups on campus.

“There is no sort of cohesion for all these little pockets of student organizations,” said Davin Brown, director of student life and services, who said the Multi-Cultural Center should serve as a central location for these groups.

The center’s interim director is Patricia Grady, who said more research needs to be done before the center can take on a permanent director.

“I think the answer to what kind of structure we need should come out of what kind of function we need the Multi-Cultural Center to serve,” said Grady, explaining that the center might benefit more from a rotating position filled by various faculty members, or even by being organized into separate centers for various ethnic groups.

A workgroup to discuss the purpose and permanent structure for the Multi-Cultural Center has been formed, and will be chaired by Vice President of Student Affairs Ed Jones and Mike Lee, associate vice president and dean for Academic Programs.

“Mike (Lee) and I will facilitate a discussion (among students and faculty),” said Ed Jones, who said the group is committed to reviving the Multi-Cultural Center. “We don’t want to confuse activity with progress.”

C-COLORS members want a quicker response.

“Our concern is that the dialogue will drag and then nothing will get done,” said senior Nancy Huante, an ethnicities major and C-COLORS member.

“We want the hiring process to open immediately,” said senior Stephanie Jones, a family and consumer sciences major who is employed by the Multi-Cultural Center.

Stephanie Jones, also a C-COLORS member, said once the search for a permanent director begins, Grady should not be considered.

“The director of the Multi-Cultural Center should be a person of color,” Stephanie Jones said, explaining that African-American students would feel more comfortable coming to “someone who can empathize” with their situation.

Grady, who is also the director of the Women’s Resource Center, said she did not seek the position of interim director of the Multi-Cultural Center but that she would be perfectly qualified for a permanent position.

“I have a commitment to (racial) issues on a personal and professional level,” Grady said. She said race should not be a factor in the search for the center’s leadership.

“The most important element is the person’s commitment to diversity and their understanding of the issues, not just being a person of color,” Grady said.

C-COLORS members are quick to point out that this demand is not a personal attack on Grady.

“This has almost nothing to do with Pat (Grady),” said sophomore and C-COLORS member Edgar Camacho, a sociology and communications double major.

“We want to change the Multi-Cultural Center,” Camacho said, explaining that C-COLORS was formed as a way to voice complaints directly to the administration instead of going through the standard chain of command.

Camacho said students voiced their concerns to Grady over the past year but that administration has not taken action to solidify the structure of the Multi-Cultural Center, or to show more commitment to retain students of color.

“It’s been a year and nothing has been done about it, so we can’t expect anything to happen in the next year,” Camacho said.

Leonard Valdez, the Multi-Cultural Center’s former director, left in December 2005 when his current position as director of Student Conduct became permanent.

Grady said she was chosen to be the interim director because of her role at the Women’s Resource Center, which shares an office with the Multi-Cultural Center.

Grady said this meant she was already very familiar with the Multi-Cultural Center’s programs and purpose.

C-COLORS has begun drawing attention to itself and its cause. On Thursday morning more than 12 members of the group turned in applications for an open clerical position in the Multi-Cultural Center to send a message that someone cares about the center.

“We’re not really interested in the position,” Stephanie Jones said. “We want to show we’re not going to let this issue die.”

Grady seemed somewhat confused by the approach C-COLORS is taking to this issue.

“My question to C-COLORS is: ‘Why is this being framed as if we are in opposition?'” Grady said. “This polarization is artificial; I don’t understand it.”

“It seems like we’re all going in the same direction,” Grady said.

C-COLORS members argued that the Multi-Cultural Center isn’t putting forth enough effort to work toward its goals.

“Nobody knows where (the Multi-Cultural Center) is or what it provides,” Stephanie Jones said.

C-COLORS members distributed a five-question survey to 195 students in their classes last week, asking if the students knew about the center and its services, Camacho said.

The “majority by far” didn’t know Sac State had a Multi-Cultural Center, Camacho said.

C-COLORS wants to correct this by promoting the center through fliers, posters, advertisements, open houses and events.

Although their ideas on the action needed may differ, both sides have agreed that something should be done to help retain ethnically diverse students.

“Our students of color aren’t graduating at the same rate as white students,” Grady said.

Since 1986, an average of 59.4 percent of first-time Caucasian freshmen made it to their junior year, according to the website of the Office of Institutional Research. For African-American students, the average is only 47.4 percent.

C-COLORS had its first meeting with administration regarding this issue on Monday in the Orchard Suite in the Union. They brought their concerns to Ed Jones, who said the committee to examine the Multi-Cultural Center’s purpose and structure will hold its first meeting within the next few weeks.

Cody Kitaura can be reached at [email protected]