July 16th, 2008
SAN DIEGO, Calif.
Hailey Paquette
Walking into the Cross-Cultural Center (CCC) at UCSD, one of the first things that you notice is the warm array of writing on the walls. Words and phrases like “family” and “redefine progress” give the new home of the CCC a pleasant feel that the employees have been trying to replicate from previous CCC locations.
The new center, which opened on May 23rd, 2008 in the Price Center’s expansion, is much more visible and centralized on the campus than the previous buildings.
For many people who come to the CCC on a daily basis, the new building does not have the same family-like feel as the original, which was housed in an old postal building. The staff also feel that it does not have quite the same feeling of home.
“We need more couches. The old building had lots of couches, and all we have here is a couple of chairs pushed together to make a couch,” said Nancy Magpusao, the director of educational programs at the CCC.
Even without the couches, the new building has many warm colors and an exceptional collection of artwork that invite people of different cultures to gather and work together. A picture of Soujouner Truth and a copy of her poem “Ain’t I a Women?” hang on the wall, with Diego Rivera’s artwork hanging right next to it.
Several large rooms compromise most of the space in the new center. The CCC often hosts large groups, mainly student organizations or cultural events. Students sometimes come in just to eat lunch, pray or meditate in the tranquility room. Some use the Center’s quiet library for their studies.
More importantly, though, the Center is a place for students to drop in and feel like they have family and a home on campus.
