Students want a multicultural center on campus, even if they have to pay for it.

A referendum was passed by students to authorize a $3 per student per semester increase in student fees over 10 years. The increase would fund Memorial Union renovations to construct a multicultural center on campus. By a margin of 168 votes – 17 votes more than the margin Emily Jensen and Sara Faber used to win the race for Government of the Student Body president and vice president – 1,326 students voted in favor of paying to create the multicultural center.

For more than 10 years, the need for an on-campus cultural center had been discussed. With upcoming renovations to the Memorial Union approved by the Board of Regents and the ISU Alumni Association’s move out of the union, space became available for such a center. However, funds for its creation were not budgeted, leading to the referendum to increase fees to finance a portion of the project.

Thomas Hill, vice president for student affairs – whose office has committed money to the project – said further funding for the cultural center could possibly come from donations, grants or central administration of the university.

If approved by Iowa State’s special fees and tuition committee and the Board of Regents, the fee increase would take effect for the 2007-08 academic year.

Richard Reynolds, director of the Memorial Union, said ISU students will be the ones who decide what the multicultural center will be like, and the university wants to be sure that students’ needs are met.

“We want to talk to students about what is going to happen in that space,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said open forums, surveys and contact with GSB will be used to find out what students expect. He said the center could contain many things, giving examples such as meeting rooms, literature on diversity, a classroom, a lecture area or a room with changing exhibits.

The center will occupy the space in the Memorial Union previously used by the old ISU Alumni Association office. That office is currently housed in Fisher-Nickell Residence Hall.

The University Book Store currently uses the area but will vacate sometime in the future, Reynolds said. He said the goal is to have the first portion of usable space for the center completed by the fall of 2008.

Students already have an idea of some things they would like to see in the center.

Umair Farooq, senior in electrical engineering, said flags from the countries represented among the student body should be placed in the center.

“They should have pictures of every national leader and historical figures of different countries,” Farooq said.

Taylor Schreck, senior in computer engineering, said that a center is very crucial to having a cohesive campus.

“We have a lot of different cultures and we haven’t done a good job bringing each other together. We need to learn about each other instead of just existing around each other,” Schreck said.

Although the idea of a multicultural center is an old one, the plans themselves are still very young. Reynolds said the concept has been discussed since 1993. Hill said that lack of details has led to the long wait.

“Students have done a good job talking about the concept, but not the specifics,” he said.