UCSB plans to resume MCC operations on first day of Spring Quarter

UC Santa Barbara’s Division of Student Affairs plans to resume the MultiCultural Center’s operations on April 1, the first day of Spring Quarter 2024, according to an email sent to the campus community. 

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Margaret Klawunn, Dean of Student Life Katya Armistead and Interim Associate Dean of Student Life Joaquin Becerra jointly signed the email statement. 

UCSB temporarily suspended the MultiCultural Center (MCC), its services and its Instagram account following pro-Palestine student activists posting signage during a Feb. 26 gathering at the center, expressing pro-Palestine and anti-Zionist sentiment as well as dissent against specific university administration and Associated Students figures. The signage resulted in community backlash and social media doxxing of MCC faculty, staff and affiliated students. 

The gathering was followed by statements from the University, MCC affiliates and the Department of Black Studies, as well as an announced hunger strike by graduate students and a day of interruption on March 7. 

The Wednesday email confirmed that the University suspended the MCC’s online operations — including its social media, department accounts and portions of its website — “for remediation of content that had been posted without authorization and to curb any further online harassment of students and staff.” 

“There has never been any question that we must restore full operations of the MCC as soon as possible,” the email read. “The MCC’s mission is core to our values as an organization whose service to underrepresented students and communities has been a beacon since its establishment in 1987.”

It also announced a new task force to launch in spring quarter with UCSB students, faculty and staff that will strengthen the “platforms of engagement of the MCC” and “guide the center’s work on intersectional racial justice at an even deeper level.” 

Student Affairs also acknowledged the doxxing and harassment students and communities have faced in person and online. 

“We will continue, as appropriate, to investigate reports of discrimination and harassment shared with the University,” the email read. “As we most recently shared on March 1 … contributing directly or indirectly to this sort of treatment of any member of our campus community is unacceptable.” 

The Nexus will continue to report on this topic as more information becomes available.