<< Front page News February 13, 2004

MRC regroups following loss

The search for a new director of the Multicultural Resource Center after the death of Rachel Beverly is coming to a close. The search has illuminated ongoing concerns about the position and its numerous duties.

Beverly was MRC director from 2000 until her death last fall. She left behind a hard legacy to follow, according to many MRC workers and students.

“The MRC was a completely different thing when she got here, and she formed a lot of what it is now. I can’t imagine who’s going to be able to fill her shoes, but I feel fairly secure in the search committee,” Afrikana Community Coordinator Trina Jackson said.
Nevertheless, the new director’s shoes may be smaller than Beverly’s. Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith said the College is considering shrinking the position so the new director won’t be overloaded with conflicting duties. While director of the MRC, Beverly was also the unofficial director of the Edmonia Lewis Center for Women and Transgendered People. Kimberly Jackson Davis has temporarily filled this role.

Goldsmith said that the job description had changed very little since Beverly was hired in 2000. He stressed that the College was looking for a candidate preferably with a Ph.D and who “reflects knowledge of social change in America.”

Goldsmith added that the new director would not be required to also lead the ELC, which Beverly had led since its transformation from the Women’s Resource Center.

“That’s not in the job description,” he said.

Myrl Beam, a junior board member of the ELC, expressed concern about the vastness of the MRC director’s job.

“Rachel acted as director of the ELC and it was a full time job,” Beam said. “We asked [Goldsmith] to have that not be included. All of us saw how much work she had and how heavy her load was.”

“It was difficult to watch and she handled it with such grace, but it should have never been set up like that,” she added.

The four community coordinators of the MRC have also assumed the leadership role left by Beverly.

“She took great care in assembling us as community coordinators and made us work as a team,” Jackson said. “It’s a great example of leadership of being able to create a team that can live without you.”

The circumstances surrounding the vacant position also serve as a reminder of the legacy of the MRC. Started in 1992, the MRC had its existence threatened in 2002 when the College, facing financial woes, eliminated all internship positions. Except for the director, the MRC’s staff are interns. After fervent campus-wide protest the College reinstated the intern positions, but not before exciting the MRC’s determination to be recognized.

Under pressure from Beverly and students, the College eventually promoted Beverly to Associate Dean and expanded intern contracts to 18 months to make the positions more desirable.

However, the positions were still relatively short-term and low-paid. Last year a diversity task force was created partly to determine the future of the MRC.

Making the community coordinator’s position full-time and better paid was a hot topic in the task force’s discussion. The task force is still formulating plans for the MRC.

“The diversity task force was formed and their findings were supposed to steer the direction of the MRC, and they still haven’t made it clear whether there were going to be any new terms,” Asian Pacific American Community Coordinator Tracy Ng said.

“They did make it clear they wanted to professionalize our positions but they didn’t make it clear as to what that meant.”

Despite this delay, Jackson said that Beverly’s spirit has helped the MRC charge ahead, striving for change.

“I feel that the MRC is going in a good direction.

In her absence, Kimberly Davis Jackson, YB and to some extent Peter Goldsmith have let us really keep Rachel in mind... ‘What would Rachel do?’ was very much of our conversations for the first semester.”

   

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