Back at Bama

The administration is avoiding use of the term "multicultural center" in naming the University's planned...ummm...multicultural center.

The planned Crossroads Community Center, the product of years of student pushes to create a multicultural center, will not open on schedule...

Details about the center's operation will be available when a director is named, Pruitt said. Until then, officials have used phrases such as "create a diverse atmosphere," "work toward inclusiveness" and "encourage involvement with different student groups" to describe the center's goals...

The center will accomplish its goals through "collaborative programming, education and assessments," according to a press release...

The multicultural center debate began in fall 2002 when the SGA passed a resolution supporting a plan posed by then UA student Antonio Sanders to house such a center, complete with a cafe and art gallery, in Foster Auditorium, the physically deteriorating site of Gov. George Wallace's Stand in the Schoolhouse door against integrating the Capstone.

Though discussion faltered after the resolution was passed, the push for multicultural center gained new, stronger life in spring 2004 after a racial slur was written on the door of UA NAACP's Ferguson Center office and a movement formed seeking UA administrators recognize the presence of the graves of University-owned slaves near the Biology Building.

UA President Robert Witt eventually appointed a multicultural task force to examine the topic of cultural and ethnic relations on the UA campus and the multicultural center idea. The task force recommended the creation of the center and a vice president position dealing with multicultural issues, which Pruitt now holds.

When the Crossroads Center was announced in August, Vice President of Student Affairs Margaret King, the chairwoman of the multicultural task force, said the term "multicultural center" was avoided in naming the initiative to avoid certain interpretations people may have of such a center's role.