Minority Students Project

BY VIRGINIA BRIDGES, Correspondent
For Jack Zhang, Duke University budget cuts are hitting home.

Since his first week of school, the 20-year-old junior says, he has found a second home at the university's Center for Multicultural Affairs, an organization that supports minority students from this country.

"I feel like the center provides a valuable refuge and resource, and mentoring for students like me," said Zhang, an Asian-American from Pittsburgh who is a work-study student at the center. "You have time to explore things that matter to you, and you have time to explore your identity."

Now Zhang is part of a group protesting a decision to lay off two of the center's four staff members, including longtime director Julian Sanchez. Students say they don't understand why Duke wants to merge the Multicultural Center with the International House, which serves mostly foreign students.

Assistant Vice President for Campus Life Zoila Airall prefers the word integration to merger. She proposed it after researching methods to bridge cultural divides.

"I thought it was something new and cutting edge," she said.

Regardless, Airall halted the proposal late last month after objections from Duke Student Government and other groups.

The new plan calls for a study team to determine how to move forward, she said. Until its report is finalized next spring, the organizations will operate as they have in the past, Airall said.

Historically, the Multicultural Center has fostered dialogue by hosting dinners and discussion groups, and funding organizations such as the Center for Race Relations, students said. The International House provides educational and other services, guiding international students and their families through orientation, according to the organization's Web site.

The layoffs of Sanchez and his secretary, Juanita Johnson, will stand as Duke looks to conduct business on leaner budgets, Airall said.

Students, however, said they don't trust the process.

"Even thought the administration will not go forward, the fact that the layoffs are continuing seems to predict the outcome no matter what," said Spencer Eldred, Duke Student Government's vice president for student affairs.

The announcement

Kirby Erlandson and Lucas Lallinger, co-presidents of the student-run Center for Race Relations, said they learned of the merger in an e-mail from Student Affairs Vice President Larry Moneta. It noted Duke's goal of cutting its budget by $125 million, a staff reduction effort - including 20 positions in Student Affairs - and the student pharmacy's closing Dec. 18.

"Second, the Center for Multicultural Affairs will merge with the International House to form a new unit, tentatively named 'The Global Cultures Center,'" the e-mail said. "This integration will intentionally consolidate the support and delivery of many cultural programs and services to students of all backgrounds ... while ensuring the continuity of programs offered by CMA and I-House."

International House Director Li-Chen Chin did not return messages. Alexis Rosenblum, president of the International Association, said the organization initially opposed the merger but is satisfied with the new plan.

Center for Race Relations

The Center for Race Relations' co-presidents' main concerns are the loss of two "vital" staff members and the lack of student input and transparency in the process. Sanchez, the Center's faculty sponsor, and Johnson were key components to the Multicultural Center's effort to improve race relations on campus, Erlandson and Lallinger said.

"We are very [grateful] that the decision has been postponed, but they have been given very little information as to why these staff members," Erlandson said. "I think it is unfair for the administration to want us to move forward without a fully functioning MCC."

Students also said they didn't understand why other cultural groups such as the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture were excluded from the merger. A new student organization, the Self-Determination Council, has evolved out of the dissent to protest the changes. Sanchez didn't respond to messages. Johnson criticized university officials for not figuring out details such as who would cover her duties, before they made the announcement.

"The diversification that the Multicultural Center presents is something that the International House is not a part of," she said. "Their issues are totally different issues."
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