DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | University of Iowa Afro-American Cultural Center, 1968-2009 | 1975-06-10 Daily Iowan Article: "New quarters for Afro Center"

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University of Iowa Afro-American Cultural Center, 1968-2009

1975-06-10 Daily Iowan Article: "New quarters for Afro Center"

[handwritten]
 DI 6/10/75

House 'falling down'  

New quarters for Afro Center

By TOM MAPP
Staff Writer

The Afro-American Cultural Center (AACC) plans to move next week from its current house on Byington Road to 303 Melrose Ave. 
 The building was assigned to the AACC by the UI Facilities Planning and Utilization speciaal Support Services (SSS), which oversees the AACC, accepted the site. 
   Facilities, Planning and Utilization assigns space in all UI buildings and handles purchase and rental of facilities. SSS provides most blacks on campus with financial and academic assistance. 
   " I'm just happy we got the place," AACC manager Robert Patterson said Tuesday. 
  Black students had visited Richard Gibson, director of Facilities Utilization and Planning, in spring 1975 to express their concern about the inadequacy of the Byington Road building. 
   Gibson said the students told him at the time that was not enough space and that the building was " falling down" 
   Coleen Jones, director of SSS, explained that the UI had been looking at the building on an ongoing basis and had found that the building's age combine with the stress put on it by workshops, lectures and parties had put it in a deteriorating condition. 
  As a result of the original requests, Facilities Planning and Utilization planned to move the center sometime in January 1976, but Gibson said he couldn't relocate occupants of possible house at that time. 
  The issue was reactivated by students in the first few months of this year. Gibson told them to list deficiencies at the house and then directed the Physical Plant to review the list and estimate repair costs. 
   Renovation costs would have been in excess of $25,000, Gibson said, and even then all of the center's program requests would not have been met. It would not have been " a responsible investment" he said.
   A 1969 UI Human Rights Commission report describing the necessity of a black cultural said, " a central gathering place would provide a social gathering spot as well as a place for academic and personal assistance. The feeling of togetherness created by such a center will help overcome the otherwise foreign element of an unfamiliar environment." 

The question was whether the Byington Road building could serve this purpose. Jones said it " was run down and unattractive so that even if renovations could have been done, blacks wouldn't have wanted to go there," There is vitality in the new house she said " because it is something new which black students can direct their attentions toward,"

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[handwritten] DI 6/10/75 House 'falling down' New quarters for Afro Center By TOM MAPP Staff Writer The Afro-American Cultural Center (AACC) plans to move next week from its current house on Byington Road to 303 Melrose Ave. The building was assigned to the AACC by the UI Facilities Planning and Utilization speciaal Support Services (SSS), which oversees the AACC, accepted the site. Facilities, Planning and Utilization assigns space in all UI buildings and handles purchase and rental of facilities. SSS provides most blacks on campus with financial and academic assistance. " I'm just happy we got the place," AACC manager Robert Patterson said Tuesday. Black students had visited Richard Gibson, director of Facilities Utilization and Planning, in spring 1975 to express their concern about the inadequacy of the Byington Road building. Gibson said the students told him at the time that was not enough space and that the building was " falling down" Coleen Jones, director of SSS, explained that the UI had been looking at the building on an ongoing basis and had found that the building's age combine with the stress put on it by workshops, lectures and parties had put it in a deteriorating condition. As a result of the original requests, Facilities Planning and Utilization planned to move the center sometime in January 1976, but Gibson said he couldn't relocate occupants of possible house at that time. The issue was reactivated by students in the first few months of this year. Gibson told them to list deficiencies at the house and then directed the Physical Plant to review the list and estimate repair costs. Renovation costs would have been in excess of $25,000, Gibson said, and even then all of the center's program requests would not have been met. It would not have been " a responsible investment" he said. A 1969 UI Human Rights Commission report describing the necessity of a black cultural said, " a central gathering place would provide a social gathering spot as well as a place for academic and personal assistance. The feeling of togetherness created by such a center will help overcome the otherwise foreign element of an unfamiliar environment." The question was whether the Byington Road building could serve this purpose. Jones said it " was run down and unattractive so that even if renovations could have been done, blacks wouldn't have wanted to go there," There is vitality in the new house she said " because it is something new which black students can direct their attentions toward,"