New club heralds diversity, welcomes all

New club heralds diversity, welcomes all

Multi-Cultural Society seeks to bring students of all
backgrounds together

By Jennifer K. Morita

When seven UCLA students tackled the topic of multiculturalism
in an English class earlier this quarter, they looked around campus
for a club that drew students from many different cultural
backgrounds together. When they couldn’t find one, they formed
their own.

The Multi-Cultural Society is the product of seven students
joining together to experience and expose other students to the
cultural diversity at UCLA, club members said. The first meeting’s
discussion is about multiculturalism in the ’90s, led by UCLA
Professor Reggie Daniels.

"There’s definitely, as far as I’m concerned, individual
segregation among people at UCLA," said Matt Scrabis, the club’s
interim secretary. "I guess it’s kind of natural. I noticed how
everybody stuck with their own group, and they didn’t even smile at
you."

Scrabis and other members of the club’s interim government
stressed that the Multi-Cultural Society should be a place where
the issue of race can be discussed from different points of view to
break down barriers and help people understand each other.

"There’s more similarities between people than there are
differences," Scrabis said.

Andi Meck, one of the club’s interim co-directors, added that it
isn’t the Multi-Cultural Society’s goal to take the place of other
cultural clubs, but to add a new dimension to the campus discussion
on diversity.

"We’re not trying to say that groups like the Vietnamese Student
Association or MEChA … aren’t necessary groups. They are.
Especially with minorities it’s really necessary to have support
groups because lots of times with minorities, doors have been shut
in our faces," Meck said. "However, I think we also need a group
that complements these groups ­ not takes away from them
­ and get these issues out to a more diverse audience."

And though the tendency to join organizations with people from
similar backgrounds is strong, campus leaders said it is important
to learn from people who are from different backgrounds.

"I think it’s basic and natural to gravitate towards people who
you can identify with," said UCLA Director of Student Programs
Berky Nelson, who helped the students find a faculty sponsor for
the club.

"Cultural and racial groups are particularly important at a
competitive academic environment like UCLA for social grounding,"
Nelson said. "(But) at some time, once one establishes a
comfortable base, the student can individually or collectively get
to know people who are different."

Edward Alpers, dean of honors and undergraduate programs for the
College of Letters and Science, said UCLA is no more segregated
than the rest of society.

"The university doesn’t exist separately from society," said
Alpers, who is the club’s sponsor. "What’s nice about the
university is that people who care about the community can try and
make things happen."

In an effort to do just that, members discussed at the club’s
first meeting earlier this month how the campus seems to be
separated along ethnic lines and how a group like theirs is needed
to combat racial tensions.

Incidents such as the trials of the police officers involved in
the beating of Rodney King and segregation in neighborhoods make
Southern Californians no strangers to diversity and its impact on
racial tensions, Nelson said.

"This has been manifested in things like Proposition 187, which
pits Anglo against non-Anglo. But anytime diversity questions are
raised, UCLA is very fortunate in that there are no racial
clashes," Nelson said.

The Multi-Cultural Society, whose motto is "Whoever you are,
that’s who we are," is one way to overcome the problems sometimes
raised by diversity, he said.

"You don’t really learn … existing in an isolated pocket,"
Nelson said. "I think the club is an excellent concept."