By snoadmin
The Raza Resource Center at Cal State Long Beach is scheduled to get a face-lift for the spring 2008 semester. The renovations are the result of a second proposal that was made to CSULB President F. King Alexander and approved in October.
The agreed-upon negotiations include: four new desktop computers, two laptops, two printers, a refrigerator, a microwave, two sofas, 12 chairs, a conference table, two coffee tables, two computer desks and a steam cleaning for the carpet, with the eventual replacement of the carpet to follow.
“It’s good, no doubt, but there’s a lot more that can be done,” said Pablo Ildefonso, member of La Raza and a senior Chicano/Latino studies and sociology major. “It’s patchwork. How does that represent how the university determines what Latinos should have? Do you [the university] really care?”
Ildefonso said that originally he had envisioned a renovation that would resemble “El Centro de la Raza,” the Raza resource center at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The University of New Mexico’s El Centro de la Raza is centrally located on the UNM campus and measures 2,794 square feet, according to UNM’s Office of Planning and Space Management.
Such space houses six staff offices, 18 computers, a conference room, a full-service kitchen, tutorial services, advisers, a study area and a mural that tells the history of the center, as described by Jorge Zevallos, network administrator for El Centro de la Raza.
In comparison, the Raza Resource Center at CSULB is approximately 620 square feet and houses five old computers, a small fridge, a microwave, two torn sofas and an assortment of mismatched, hand-me-down furnishings.
Maria Ventura, a senior sociology major who regularly uses the Raza Resource Center, said, however, that she is relieved about the changes coming to it.
“We’ve waited so long for it and finally they’re going to give it to us,” Ventura said. “In reality it’s like a second home for a lot of us.”
One student still had doubts, however.
“I’m happy and excited, but after 30 years of promises that they’re going to renovate it, I’m still doubtful that they’re going to do it,” said Osvaldo Frausto, a junior kinesiology major who’s been using the Raza Resource Center since his freshman year.
“Honestly, I think they need to make it bigger, because by making it pretty they’re not going to accommodate the 9,000 Latinos on campus. Right now it’s in the boonies – you can’t even find this place with a navigation system.”
La Raza members Christopher Chavez and Al-Karim Shivji agreed that, for the time being, the expansion or relocation of the center is not feasible due to a lack of space. However, they hoped to get the center into future building plans that would both expand the current center and offer a better site location.
According to Chavez, La Raza Student Association secretary, the Raza Resource Center is a heavily used resource center on campus and is open to all CSULB students. Chavez estimated that the center services more than a 100 students on a weekly basis.
Through e-mail correspondence, Chavez wrote that “the administration was very warm to the idea of renovating the center … Furthermore, the university has … made it clear that they want the students to fully participate in the process of selecting the new materials and helping to create and implement new policies for the resource center.”
The last renovations that were done to the Raza Resource Center occurred last year, which involved repainting the main room, acquiring two new sofas, and some installation on newer computers.
The Raza Resource Center is located in Faculty Office 4, Room 262. The building was originally constructed in December of 1969, according to Physical Planning and Facilities Management.
