Minority groups based in the ARCH building will be getting more space this fall.
The Performing Arts Council will be moving out of the ARCH building at 36th and Locust streets, leaving three offices vacant.
PAC will move its headquarters to the basement of Stouffer Commons at 37th and Spruce streets.
The offices in the ARCH will be snapped up by cultural groups who say they simply need more room for their activities.
Black student resource center Makuu will take over two of the empty offices in the ARCH, while La Casa Latina will occupy the third, said Makuu Program Coordinator Crystal Wyatt.
But these groups want more than just three new offices.
Officers from minority student hubs -- including the Pan-Asian American Community House, La Casa Latina and Makuu -- say improving the space is still a top priority for them, and they are taking steps to get it.
The ARCH "should be a central place for students to come relax or do their homework," Wyatt said.
But student leaders who use the ARCH's cultural hubs say the resources they have -- even with the addition of the new offices -- are inadequate.
Latino Coalition Chairman and College sophomore Rob Medina said a group of minority coalitions approached Provost Ron Daniels in January with a proposal to revamp the facilities.
"There are safety concerns in the ARCH building the way it is now," Medina said. "There have been electrical problems and flooding.
The provost toured the ARCH facilities in mid-March.
Medina said that the provost was "very receptive" to the changes the coalitions proposed. Medina hopes Daniels will begin a fundraising campaign in order to collect the money necessary to revamp the ARCH.
Plans for change are already laid for the ARCH basement, according to Nancy Nicely, spokeswoman for the Provost's Office.
The basement will be getting a new floor and will hopefully serve as a lounge for students, Wyatt said.
Students from these cultural groups have also been trying to increase their visibility on campus.
A banner was added to the ARCH over spring break that lists all the cultural groups housed in the building.
"The banner was a response to our concern that students didn't know what the ARCH housed," said College sophomore Jerome Wright, political chairman of black-interest umbrella group Umoja, which works out of Makuu's offices. "Now people know who we are and what goes on inside of the ARCH."
Such visibility is crucial for the long term goals of renovating the building, Medina said.
"We want to make the ARCH a student union," he added. "All of our concerns center on that goal."
