The sky was again cloudy on an October day exactly 16 years later, but the difference was that the center was filled with cake, a festive atmosphere and a diverse crowd of students, faculty and staff.
The ACC celebrated its 16th birthday Friday with an open invitation to free lunch and a panel discussion about the past, present and future of the center and diversity on campus.
The birthday is a huge milestone for a center that took years of student activism to establish, said Castillo-Cullather, who has been with the center all 16 years.
“It took many years of campaign from students who were members of the Asian American Association and Asian Student Union,” she said. “Each year, a new group of students would pick up the cause.”
The efforts culminated in 1997, when leaders from various minority groups formed a student coalition and made a list of demands from the administration, including the establishment of the ACC, Castillo-Cullather said.
Castillo-Cullather said the work is worth it for her when she sees students enjoying themselves during center activities and when she witnesses “aha” moments from people attending ACC discussion events.
Castillo-Cullather said she hopes the future of the ACC includes it continuing to live up to its mission of being a vibrant and dynamic place where people learn, make connections and feel at home.
“I would like to see the ACC do more partnerships with the alumni and academic units in creating opportunities for students to think outside the box,” she added.
Students had a chance to discuss their vision for the ACC during the panel discussion, moderated by ACC graduate assistant Taylor Killough.
“We’re just really excited and really proud to have been around for 16 years and the main purpose of today is to celebrate that, but also to look towards the future and plan for the next 16 years and the best ways we can advocate for and serve students,” Killough said.
Martin McCrory, vice provost for educational inclusion and diversity and one of the panelists at the event, said he hopes all the campus culture centers bolster their academic components with more classes and tutoring.
“We need more technology in the centers to bring them out of the 1800s,” he said.
Other topics discussed included a future where the white majority is slated to become the minority.
Panelist Joyce Rogers, vice president for development and external relations for Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs, said the need for diversity programming and resources like the ACC are perhaps even more crucial as the number of minorities grows.
“Being the majority in numbers isn’t the same as being the majority in power and economics,” she said.
The importance of the ACC not just for campus diversity but as a resource for individual students was highlighted by 2013 IU alum Gloria Chan, who spoke during the discussion about how the ACC served as her second home during her undergraduate experience.
Chan said she is from a place where there are not many Asians, which meant she was the only one at her school who had to deal with the identity issues she said are associated with having a different background.
“Coming to the ACC and meeting people like me that have such complicated backgrounds was comforting,” she said. “The people here are really nice.”
