The Government of the Student Body will recognize the completion of the Multicultural Center at Wednesday’s meeting.

The Multicultural Center will be opening its doors for the first time on Oct. 28.

The Center “was a GSB initiative started by Angela Groh,” a former student and GSB University Affairs committee member, said Lauren Suerth, Campustown senator and senior in community and regional planning.

Four years ago, the prospect of a meeting place for multicultural student affairs was born, with the support of Richard Reynolds, director of the Memorial Union. He said the project was a “fulfillment of a dream that campus has had for years.”

Originally, there was no space available in the Memorial Union for a multicultural student affairs. Reynolds said room became available later when the ISU Alumni Association moved out of the space the Center now occupies.

Reynolds said in 2006, GSB administered a survey to the student body asking if they would donate an extra $3 as part of their yearly student fee for a Multicultural Center. In response to the survey, GSB passed such a bill to fund the Multicultural Center.

He said construction of $1.1 million project began in fall 2007.

According to a press release from the Multicultural Center, its mission statement “is to create an environment where awareness of one’s cultural identity and a deeper understanding and respect of others’ differences with respect to culture are readily accepted.”

Jonathan Turk, speaker of the senate and junior in political science, said while there hasn’t been much discussion on how to get the word out about the Multicultural Center, the public relations committee will discuss how to advertise the center “within the next couple of weeks.”

In addition to recognizing the Multicultural Center, GSB will vote Wednesday to allocate funds for student organizations through the special allocations process. The process is a chance for student organizations who missed the regular allocations process to request funds from GSB.

In a meeting that ran late on Monday night, the finance committee met with five student organizations, including the Russian-Speaking Students Association, ISU Flying Cyclones, Circle-K, ISU Groove Drumline Club and the ISU Nordic Ski Club, to discuss the amount of funds each organization wanted.

The finance committee is allowed $20,000 for the special allocations process. The clubs requested a total of about $8,000, leaving GSB with a surplus of funds.

 The excess of funds will go back to capital projects, said Tom Danielson, finance director and senior in civil engineering.