The Lealtad-Suzuki Center (LSC), part of the newly created Department of Multicultural Life, is now open and available for all student use. The Center, located in the southeast corner of Kagin Commons, exists to educate the community about multiculturalism as well as to help coordinate multicultural programming.

" It's a new kind of idea," said Ginger Hauer, the Multicultural Life Department Coordinator. " It has existed in other incarnations, like Minority Programs and the CMA [Council for Multicultural Awareness]. Before, it had been a temporary thing. This is a permanent fixture with permanent staff."

One new staff member is Karla Benson, the LSC Director. Right now, she said, the Center is focused on gaining recognition on campus.

" Many of our programs begin in October," Benson said. " Through September, we are just trying to get our name out there, to develop an identity, and to get people to come hang out in the space."

The LSC houses tables and chairs, as well as a library and music, which are open to any student. Some of the programs the LSC has planned are a multicultural training session for anyone in the Macalester community, student collectives with difference focuses, a lunch and discussion series, a " Safe Zone Program" and the Hewlett Pluralism and Unity Program. The program, in its third year at Macalester, selects 30 first-year students that then meet a few times a month throughout the year to discuss issues of pluralism and multiculturalism in both the Macalester community and the Twin Cities.

" The goals of the center play off the goals of the department," Benson said. " It's for everyone, specifically those who have been historically underrepresented, to feel like they have a place to go."

The center will have its dedication ceremony on Sept. 19th from 3:30 – 4:30. Also this month, Catharine Deaver Lealtad '15 and Esther Torii Suzuki '46, the center's namesakes, will be receiving the Macalester College Board of Trustees Award for Meritorious and Distinguished Service.

Lealtad was the first African-American graduate of Macalester, with an honors degree in history and chemistry. After graduation, she was a doctor in the U.S. Army and with the U.S. Public Health Service. She created an endowed scholarship at Macalester in 1983.

Suzuki came to Macalester from a Japanese internment camp in Oregon. After graduating with an honors degree in Sociology, she worked as a social worker for Ramsey County. She spent much of her life particiapting in civil rights groups and developing programs for Asian-Americans.