ACS promised space in MCC with no place to go

By Mayka Mei

I'm going to play mind-reader and guess one of the questions that was on your mind during the first week of winter quarter: What's up with the colored armbands?

The orange ribbon, specifically, was worn to support the MCC. The action was a long-awaited response to the administration's prolonged suppression of the Chartered Student Organization's efforts and needs.

Last spring, the Arab Cultural Society (ACS) started the two-quarter-long process of petitioning for residency in the MCC. The MCC Executive Board knew that whether or not ACS was passed into the MCC's roster, more space for possible future clubs would be needed. They started drafting plans and proposals for new office space configurations during summer, but now, three terms after the start of the "space issue" conversations, a consensus still hasn't been reached.

What has taken three terms of student-leaders' time could have easily been cut down to one or two if only administration had upheld the deadlines they set for themselves as well as the professionalism expected of executives in their position.

It's hard enough getting through the average four classes a quarter. Imagine looking forward to two-hour meetings every Thursday night. Pretend that once a week, you and your fellow board members have to rehash ideas revolving around the same subject until you feel like you've beaten the poor horse not only to death, but beyond all recognition. Frustration is an inevitable feeling.

Last Thursday the MCC Executive Board passed ACS for residency in the MCC. The final vote is a momentous move. While it opens doors to more cultural clubs and expands even further the community that the MCC has grown to be, the MCC Executive Board is now faced with the predicament that they've been trying to prepare for since last school year.

For now, ACS will be supplied with a desk and chair. Their floor space will be the foyer of Shapell lounge, next to the recycling bins. The placement is, of course, temporary, although the time period for the tentative set-up is unclear.

The board has been exhausting alternatives for bringing in ACS for months. Few options have been presented by administration.

Have you been in Shapell lately? The space you see is not the space allotted to the MCC. The Shapell building is an open-lounge space available for use by anyone who wants a place to study, hang out, eat or just kill some time.

The term "Multicultural Center" only applies to one-third of Shapell. The Center is actually a group of five offices â€" one main office and four others that are shared among eight cultural clubs (two clubs in one office). As it is, club boards, consisting of anywhere from 10--14 people each, are supposed to comfortably work, program and assemble in spaces smaller than your average dorm room.

'Need storage for cultural show props and costumes? Stick them between the file cabinet, desk, couch, and chair. Oh, and just so you know, there's a second club that's being squeezed in there with you.

You have another club coming in? We'll get back to you at our convenience.

Months later, it's still at no one's convenience.

The whole situation is cause for a greater call-to-arms. In its simplest form, it's about a student-run organization not getting the attention and resources it deserves.

The MCC, as the only student organization that has the two-fold purpose of educating the rest of the university and producing cultural programming deserves punctuality, efficiency and respect from the administration, and have since they presented their proposals.

No "real world" situation of professional administrators and event planners would appreciate such slow uptake.

û Mayka Mei is an at-large representative of the Multicultural Center Executive Board.