To Our MCC Community Members,
We thank you for your patience as we prepare to resume the MultiCultural Center's programs, support services, and space operations. We share this message with you out of a sense of responsibility and a commitment to transparency.
We, the career staff of the MultiCultural Center, write to you in the spirit of accountability and growth. We have temporarily shifted our focus to introspection, rebuilding relationships with constituents (including student staff and interns), and actionable steps to resume the full operations of the MCC for the spring quarter. While challenges undoubtedly lie ahead, we are committed to fostering open dialogue about how the MCC can uphold its mission, values, policies, and procedures within the larger institution while also serving as a critical site of resistance, which the MCC has done since its inception.
MCC student and career staff, along with interns, are in discussion with campus leadership regarding MCC development and a renewed vision for MCC services on campus. Our priority is to unite our career staff, student staff, and interns to foster a sense of community and initiate crucial dialogues for healing and understanding, enabling us to best serve the campus community together moving forward.
Your understanding and support during this period of reflection and transition are invaluable. We invite your input and engagement as we endeavor to cultivate a more inclusive and supportive environment at UCSB.
Thank you.
What Happened? More Background
Beginning on Sunday, February 25, 2024, members of our student community gathered in a demonstration, aiming to bring attention to their observations of the profound loss of human life and injustices faced by Palestine. They articulated demands in response to their concerns about the suppression of student voices, creativity, and autonomy in advocating for Palestine across campus. While all students are permitted and welcomed to express themselves and advocate for their beliefs, there were further issues that complicated matters.
First, signage perceived by some as exclusionary and antisemitic was posted in the space. The unauthorized signage did not reflect the perspective or intent of the MCC, nor did it necessarily reflect the views of all the students who were present.
Second, the space, its social media, and its telephone lines were all used to communicate messages not endorsed or approved by the MCC to the broader public.
By Monday, the 26th, a counter-demonstration had formed in the MCC Lounge. In response to these events, MCC staff, student members, and other campus community members jointly decided to temporarily limit on-site services and access to the MCC for the safety and well-being of MCC students and career staff after several attempts at de-escalation proved ineffective.
In retrospect, we can begin to understand how a series of issues over several months led to this breaking point where the staff of MCC was so fractured that we (interns, student staff, and career staff) could not co-deliver the programs and services of the Center.
