by Mike Lawson
Staff Writer
The recent formation of the Institute for Multicultural Research and Campus Diversity will help strengthen existing diversity efforts around the University of La Verne.
Before the creation of the institute, all campus diversity and multicultural efforts and programs such as the Multicultural Student Affairs Office and the First Generation Student Success Program (FGSSP) were directly under the office of the president.
Currently the institute will house both of these programs, plus it will promote any of the efforts to diversify the La Verne community.
All money granted by the University previously went directly to the program to which it was granted. Now with the new institute, all money will go through it then be distributed to the individual programs.
Derek Vergara, co-director of the Institute for Multicultural Research and Campus Diversity, said that the staff will “need to expand.”
According to Vegara, all of the programs will run the same. But, they might run a little smoother. “Students will be served better,” said Vergara.
The programs, like the FGSSP and the Coalition for Diversity, will do the same things they did before, “but they will go through minor reconstruction,” said Christina Ayala-Alcantar, co-director of the Institute for Multicultural Research and Campus Diversity.
Besides taking on the task of monitoring existing programs, the Institute for Multicultural Affairs will help clubs on campus communicate with one another.
