Coalition for Cultural Opportunities in Leadership and Overall Retention of Students (C-COLORS) met in the Multi-Cultural Center with the Student Affairs Advisory Committee to emphasize the need for representation on the committee.

The “hastily called” public forum is the second demonstration in the past week to protest the treatment of students at the center, according to a press release.

C-COLORS has had concerns with the treatment of students for some time now. Some of their concerns include the de-funding of the Multi-Cultural Center.

The organization also addressed other issues including limited hours to students in the center, the failure to hire a new permanent director and “apparent tolerance of violent remarks.”

Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs Ed Jones said nothing could be resolved overnight.

“If we’re going to change the protocol, we need to talk about it first,” Jones said.

Jones said he feels that any issue that needs to be addressed shouldn’t be taken lightly and should be given the necessary attention it deserves.

C-COLORS members have said that they feel that the time for talking has passed and that it’s time for Student Affairs to take action.

“I feel they’re listening,” said sophomore sociology major and C-COLORS member A.J. Crisostomo. “Are you going to take into account what we said? Are you going to take any actions to what we said?”

For Crisotomo and his fellow C-COLORS members the struggle has been an ongoing one.

“When we met with (Vice President of Student Affairs) Lori Varlotta last semester she promised us that she would allocate over $4,000 to hire a graduate intern to work with programming,” Crisotomo said.

The Multi-Cultural Center is a department within the Division of Student Affairs.

The Center is confronted with the challenge of transforming itself and redefining its purpose to accommodate the demands from a changing educational institution and the increasingly diverse student population.

Josh Staab can be reached at [email protected]