Finding a private space: UNC student groups have to work for their own spaces

State News PageOne
Cailyn Derickson
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Published 1 hour ago



Photo by Zita Voros
/ The Daily Tar Heel



The Black Student Movement calls the Upendo Lounge their home. The UNC Muslim Students Association calls the prayer room in the Student Union their home. Latinx students call Craige North residence hall a meeting place, but not a home.“A center would really allow a majority of Latinx students on campus to feel welcome and represented,” Harold Landerer, co-director of Alumni for the Carolina Hispanic Association, said. “They would have a home.”The Latinx Unity Council, which includes CHispA and Carolina Latinx Collaborative, uses the seminar wing of Craige North as a meeting place, but Landerer said it’s more of a place to collaborate and less of a place for Latinx students to just hang out.




“They’ve finally given us keys to most of the rooms so we have more autonomy over it,” Landerer said. “They’ve upgraded a bunch of conditions in that part of campus, but it’s not a significant stride toward creating an actual center.”










Landerer said the council understands that acquiring a space on campus is a long process, but the process seems delayed.“It seems like a lack of respect and consideration of our issues and what we mean to the University,” he said.University Historian Cecelia Moore said there is no one process for student groups to acquire space on campus.“There is no consistency. It just sort of happens as requests come up,” she said. “The request of the Latinx students reflects that process that began back in the 1960s when the Black Student Movement was created and they requested a space on campus that was theirs.”Tre Shockley, BSM president, said BSM has first priority to book the Upendo Lounge in SASB North to hold their meetings. He said the space serves as a general gathering ...


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