JOSHUA SILLS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Michelle M. Espino, graduate assistant of multicultural advocacy and programs discusses the Multicultural and Leadership center, which opened this week.

In response to the complaint that the UA does not promote diversity enough on campus, the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership has opened up a Multicultural Leadership Center.

Saundra Taylor, vice president for campus life, said that Wildcat Welcome Week coordinators have received negative feedback from minority students who felt overlooked and in need of a more specialized source of support, especially during the hectic first weeks of school.

The MLC held an open house last night in an attempt to reach out to minority students.

"In the past, some students have felt under-represented, and not as welcome," Taylor said. "With the opening of the Multicultural Leadership Center, we've made more of an effort to engage them. (Now) people can see we are a diverse community."

Leaders of minority student organizations are excited and pleased about the opening of the new center.

"I think it's a great idea, "said Socorro Carrizosa, director of Hispano-Chicano Student Affairs. "It's wonderful to see another area of the UA community (CSIL) is publicly showing a commitment to diversity. "

She is also pleased with the location of the new center. "The student union is the center of campus, where thousands of students pass through everyday," she added.

Because the center is brand new, it's still in the process of finding both funding and volunteers in order to provide services.

The center is part of CSIL and located on the fourth floor of the Student Union Memorial Center. Once finished, it will offer a resource library, computers for student use, information on working with a diverse population, space that can be reserved for club meetings and lectures on diversity, and a listing of diversity-related events, said Michelle Espino, graduate assistant for multicultural advocacy and programs.

She said she is also hoping to hire student volunteers to act as peer advocates and help organize retreats.

"We just want this to be a place for people to hang out and share experiences," she said.

"We wanted to reach across boundaries, increase opportunities for students to talk about multicultural issues and encourage active conversations between all people, not just people of color," she added.

James Rohret, business management and marketing senior and member of Blue Chip, a student leadership program, came to check out the open house. He said he's been looking forward to the opening.

"This (center) will help unify students and give them a place to go," he said. "Also, diversity is one of (Blue Chip's) core values; it ties into what we do."