Friday, April 26

UCLA to create new Black Resource Center in major step for Black student community


UCLA will fund a Black Resource Center on campus, confirmed a UCLA spokesperson. (Daily Bruin file photo)



Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly stated the Black Graduate Student Association released a statement about the creation of a Black Resource Center. In fact, the Black Graduate Student Association and the Afrikan Student Union released a joint statement.

This post was updated June 28 at 2:10 p.m.

UCLA will create a Black Resource Center on campus, a UCLA spokesperson confirmed Thursday. 

The Black Resource Center will be in the center of campus, said UCLA spokesperson Ricardo Vazquez in an emailed statement. 

The Black Graduate Student Association and the Afrikan Student Union said in a joint statement Thursday that the creation of a Black Resource Center is a monumental step for the Black community at UCLA.

“Although the timing is eerily convenient, this is a major win for our community,” the statement read. “Black students in the ASU space and beyond have been demanding and advocating for a center such as this one to be established for over 5 years, which goes to show how monumental this is for our community.”

The BGSA will hold a town hall meeting July 1 with university administrators, including Chancellor Gene Block, to discuss comments and concerns of the Black community at UCLA.

Hundreds of protesters gathered at the UCLA campus early June to protest police brutality, following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. At the event, the protest leaders demanded the university fully fund a Black Resource Center, as well as divest from UCPD.

The Cultivating Unity for Bruins referendum, which would have funded a Black Resource Center on campus and covered rent for the Transfer Student Center failed in the 2020 USAC election, receiving only 49% of the vote.

Alumnus

Qu was the 2021-2022 Editor in chief. He was previously the 2020-2021 campus politics editor and a contributor for The Stack. He studied statistics and political science at UCLA.


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