MSU leaders break ground on $38 million multicultural center
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EAST LANSING — Michigan State University broke ground Friday on the construction of the future Multicultural Unity Center — a project decades in the making for underrepresented students.
A host of MSU leaders, including Interim President Teresa Woodruff and MSU Board of Trustees Chairperson Rema Vassar, dug shovels into the dirt to mark the official groundbreaking of the $38 million building to become home to a standalone Multicultural Unity Center, or MOSAIC, which is currently located on the second floor of the MSU Union.
Trustees unanimously authorized the construction of the facility in February. The decision came after more than 30 years of advocating by students and staff to bring such a standalone center to campus.
"We are going to make that a literal concrete reality as we break ground on MSU's first free-standing multicultural center later today," Woodruff said at the trustees' meeting Friday morning.
What is the multicultural center?
Students and staff for decades have advocated for a standalone multicultural center, which would create designated spaces for classes and forums and a safe space for minority students.
The future center will include multipurpose space, offices, a living room, an amphitheater, a backyard, a porch and a fire circle, according to project renderings. It will be constructed at the northeast corner of North Shaw Lane and Farm Lane and west of Shaw Hall in MSU’s central academic district.
The chosen location is amid protected green space, which required a variance to the University Zoning Ordinance granted by the Board of Trustees.
The building will also feature a community kitchen, art gallery wall, resource center and “a culturally rich and welcoming environment that promotes intellectual curiosity among students and their peers to learn and share experiences with one another,” school officials said in February.
The multicultural center will also be home to the Dreamer Center, which will provide support, mental health resources, financial aid and legal guidance to undocumented students. Services will also be available to help undocumented students with their academics as well as their professional endeavors while working through the challenges that their immigration statuses bring.
Why the long wait?
Calls for a standalone multicultural center on MSU’s campus go back more than 30 years.
MSU released a 50-point plan to fight racism in 1989 following protests by Black students that included opening a multicultural center on campus. But it wasn’t until 1999 that the university acted on the plan and brought a multicultural center to campus.
The original center was located in the basement of the MSU Union. Students at the time argued that the multicultural center’s location didn’t make it a visible part of campus.
Members of the MSU Council of Racial and Ethnic Students and the president of the Black Student Alliance, Mario Lemons, in the early 2010s organized rallies and marches on campus, bringing awareness to the multicultural center’s basement space that students said did not meet the needs of underrepresented communities of students, according to the MSU Multicultural Center website.
Former MSU President Lou Anna Simon authorized the multicultural center to move from the MSU Union’s basement to a new location. It was ultimately moved to the second floor of the MSU Union in 2003 and was renamed MOSAIC: The Multicultural Unity Center.
Even after the move, students in the following years continued petitioning and advocating for a standalone multicultural center.
How is it being paid for?
The budget for the multicultural center is estimated at $38 million, paid for through the university’s general fund.
In a memo to the board before its meeting in February, Daniel Bollman, vice president for strategic Infrastructure Planning and Facilities, said debt financing could also be used to cover the costs of the project.
Construction is expected to be completed in October 2024.
What is the diversity of the MSU student body?
For the 2022-23 academic year, the racial and ethnic breakdown of all MSU students includes:
White: 64.9%
International: 8.7%
Asian: 7.6%
African-American: 6.5%
Hispanic/Latinx: 6.1%
Two or more races: 3.8%
American Indian/Alaska Native: 0.3%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0.1%
Other/Unknown: 2%
Reporter Mike Ellis contributed to this report.
Contact Mark Johnson at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Construction officially begins on MSU's $38 million multicultural center
