Multicultural Center hosts open house ahead of spring grand opening

Envisioned by Central Washington University students, and in active development since 2024, the Multicultural Center (MCC) on the Ellensburg campus is entering its final stage of construction.

To celebrate, the MCC hosted an open house on Monday, November 24, to introduce the CWU community to the reenvisioned Black Hall space.

The event featured panel discussions, scavenger hunts, refreshments prepare in the brand-new MCC kitchen, and more. MCC Program Manager Justin Santoli hopes the open house served to show people all the ways in which they might make the center their own.

“This is a place to find your place,” he said. “If our doors are open, then students are welcome to come in and hang out in any space that’s available, no appointment necessary. We encourage students to think of us as their space, and they’ll be exposed to so many different campus organizations and clubs in the process, too.”

Santoli estimates that construction is about 85% complete, with a few conference rooms, a multipurpose space designed for dance practices, and a workspace for the Equity & Services Council yet to be completed. Construction has taken place in phases since early 2025, in order to avoid disrupting the daily flow in Black Hall.

“Since we’re expanding into an existing space, as opposed to a new building, the construction has taken a phased approach, to not disturb the other residents of Black Hall,” Santoli said. “We’re excited to see that final phase finished, although we’ll always be looking for opportunities to improve on the space.”

Once construction is completed in January, the former Diversity and Equity Center will have been expanded by about 6,500 square feet to a total of 13,500 square feet, making it one of the largest multicultural gathering spaces at Washington’s six public higher education institutions. Even though the grand opening is still a few months away, students have been making use of the space since early October, giving staff the chance to see how it might be leveraged as they work to plan next year’s programming.

“It’s been really amazing to see students start to fill in the space, even before our grand opening,” Santoli said. “It offers us staff members a lot of opportunities to collaborate and think about all the projects we can work on together in this space, too. We hope everyone has an opportunity to stop by and see the space, and see where it might take you.”

CWU’s Multicultural Center was made possible through the passionate support of our student body, as well as $6 million in funding approved by the Washington State Legislature in 2023.