Students and faculty concerned with the lack of a permanent director for the Multi-Cultural Center held a silent protest on Monday afternoon.

Members of the Coalition for Cultural Opportunities in Leadership and Overall Retention of Students (CCOLORS) sat in the center, located within the Women’s Resource Center across from the Library, in a demonstration aiming to prove that the center is losing its focus and resources.

Rhonda Rios Kravitz, head of access services for the Library, said that the protest is one of many to come this semester. She said the center’s purpose is to provide a place where students can study and organize events.

Rios Kravitz added that the center aims to eliminate issues of racism and discrimination and that it has lost its focus.

The center’s former director, Leonard Valdez, stepped down in December 2005 when he was permanently named the director of Student Conduct. Patricia Grady, director of the Women’s Resource Center, served as its interim director from December 2005 until Jan. 22.

Last semester, administrators decided that the center’s purpose and structure needed to be examined before hiring a permanent director.

James Kitchen, vice president for Student Affairs at San Diego State, was hired as a consultant to visit Sacramento State to make recommendations as to whether the center needs a permanent director or a different “staffing pattern,” Vice President of Student Affairs Lori Varlotta told The State Hornet in December 2006.

But students of C-COLORS say they feel that they haven’t been involved in the changes of the center.

Graduate student Olgalilia Ramirez said students are upset because they want to participate in decisions of the center’s changes.

Rios Kravitz said the center’s advisory board members were not informed of the decision to hire a consultant, which she said was upsetting.

Sophomore Edgar Camacho, a sociology and theater double major, said that the students are upset because they feel that the consultant cannot give a complete evaluation and that student input may not be collected accurately since Kitchen is not actively involved at Sac State and the Multi-Cultural Center.

Camacho said the center is losing resources, noting that four computers used to be available to students before, and now there are only two, and that it is no longer a safe haven for students. He also said students have to sign in and aren’t allowed to bring food into the center.

“It’s our home,” Camacho said, adding that students of color need a sense of belonging on campus and that the center used to provide that. “It was our home away from home.”

“It was a safe haven,” Rios Kravitz said, adding that forcing students to sign in could turn them away.

The center also focuses on retention and graduation rates of students of minorities. Camacho said the retention and graduation rates of these students are low on campus.

“It’s ridiculous,” Camacho said.

Camacho, a former Multi-Cultural Center employee and C-COLORS member, said the organization decided to hold a silent protest because the students feel that they do not have anything to say because administrators know about their concerns and that they are going to continue to fight for their goals.

“We’re not going to leave,” Ramirez said. Grady, who was in the center during the protest but did not participate, said that administrators and the students ultimately want the same thing: to restore the purpose of the center and to strengthen its resources and services.

She said the main disagreement is the progress of hiring a permanent director. Grady said the students want a permanent director to be hired immediately, whereas administrators want to evaluate the center before doing so.

“We’re focused on the same things,” Grady said, listing retention and graduation rates, recruitment and support for students as the center’s goals. “The division, in my opinion, is very, very artificial.”

Analia Mendez, the center’s new interim director, said she is excited to work with the students in order to provide more structure, make changes and oversee the center’s daily functions.

Mendez, a former Career Center employee, said she wants to work with the students by listening to their concerns.

“The students come first,” Mendez said.

Nika Megino can be reached at [email protected]