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Chicano/Latino Native American Cultural Center 25th anniversary celebration, December 14, 1996

Here at UI in 1971, Indians and Chicanos came together because we believed that an indigenous experience united us on some level and reality dictated, that because of our numbers ( there were only eight of us) we needed to work together. As our numbers grew, new organizations within the center emerged which eventually led to a name change of the center as we now know it. The Latino and American Indian Cultural Center. However, one fact of history should never be forgotten: Chicanos and Mesuakies founded the center with the hope that it would become a major catalyst for making our campus more diverse. 

Today's struggles though very similar, are addressed on slightly different fronts. Perhaps they are more mainstreamed because we have learned how to do things differently. In fact, a fundamental difference today is that the center is more diverse. And as I said, we hoped for this. We knew in 1971 that there would be a day when our populations would grow to the point that there would be a need to define the space differently in order to meet the growing and changing needs of each generation. But isn't this exactly what diversity is all about? It is movement, change and multiplicity. It is the accepting, the understanding, the embracing, and the celebration of multiple experiences and interpretations of the world 

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Here at UI in 1971, Indians and Chicanos came together because we believed that an indigenous experience united us on some level and reality dictated, that because of our numbers ( there were only eight of us) we needed to work together. As our numbers grew, new organizations within the center emerged which eventually led to a name change of the center as we now know it. The Latino and American Indian Cultural Center. However, one fact of history should never be forgotten: Chicanos and Mesuakies founded the center with the hope that it would become a major catalyst for making our campus more diverse. Today's struggles though very similar, are addressed on slightly different fronts. Perhaps they are more mainstreamed because we have learned how to do things differently. In fact, a fundamental difference today is that the center is more diverse. And as I said, we hoped for this. We knew in 1971 that there would be a day when our populations would grow to the point that there would be a need to define the space differently in order to meet the growing and changing needs of each generation. But isn't this exactly what diversity is all about? It is movement, change and multiplicity. It is the accepting, the understanding, the embracing, and the celebration of multiple experiences and interpretations of the world 10