The Black Cultural Center is getting a little help from its friends to do a long-awaited clean-up and repair.

Volunteers including those from the Black Student Alliance and the Black Cultural Center are working on the weekends this month to paint, clean and decorate the center.

The Black Cultural Center was opened in 1970. It houses the Jack Trice Library and offers lectures, films, receptions and Black History Month events. The center offers a wealth of opportunities for African American students, yet has been nothing less than an eyesore for years.

The time is certainly ripe for improvements. Several black students have said they feel alienated by the university in light of the Catt Hall controversy. That perception — either true or false — is important.

Black students are our classmates, our friends, essential members of our ISU community. Their happiness is important, as is that of any group of students.

The university — in allocating $40,000 recently for structural repairs to the center — took a good first step. To get involved with upcoming fix-it-up activities would be a great second step for anyone who has the time or can make time.

It’s also about diversity. It’s hard to sell a black student on Iowa State with an ailing cultural center, especially in light of the Catt controversy.

Once the Black Cultural Center has received its face lift, the center will be an attraction for programming and its historical value.

With such an ailing building, the center’s purpose is defeated in that it’s not an attractive place for black students — indeed all students — to gather. That won’t do.

Extend a hand of support and help the ISU community welcome again a group that has felt left out.