UC Berkeley Web Feature

ASUC President Manuel Buenrostro and Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau sign the multicultural center agreement. Looking on are (L to R) Jere Takahashi, Lisa Walker, Justine Lazaro and Anil Daryani. (Photo by Steve McConnell/UC Berkeley NewsCenter)

Chancellor, ASUC president sign multicultural center agreement

By Noel Gallagher, Media Relations | 16 September 2005

BERKELEY – Campus leaders signed off today (Friday, Sept. 16) on the final details for a new student multicultural center at the University of California, Berkeley.

Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau and Manuel Buenrostro, the new president of the Berkeley division of Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC), signed a memorandum of understanding that outlines how the center will be operated and other administrative details.

"This center is going to be a great thing - not just for students, but for the campus community," Birgeneau said at the signing. "At a great university, students learn more from other students than they do from the faculty. This multicultural center is another place where students will learn about each other."

The signing took place in Heller Lounge, on the ground floor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, the temporary home of the multicultural center. The permanent center will be opened as part of a future renovation of Lower Sproul Plaza.

A formal ceremony to mark the new agreement is being planned.

Watching Birgeneau and Buenrostro sign the document were noted guests Anil Daryani, vice president of the ASUC; Justine Lazaro of the Third World Liberation Front, an early backer of the center; Jere Takahashi, director of the UC Berkeley Multicultural Student Development office, and Lisa Walker, coordinator of cross-cultural student development at the Multicultural Student Development Office.