One of the University of Utah’s more prominent resource centers is expanding its campus footprint. The Center for Community and Cultural Engagement (CCE) will be taking over the space previously occupied by the Black Cultural Center (BCC) located at Fort Douglas.

Following the dissolution of the Division of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, the former BCC space had been a state of limbo as to how it would be used, but administrators decided to re-establish it as a resource facility for current and new students.

“Because our office hosts a lot of cultural education events and workshops, as well as community engagement celebrations like Heritage and History Month, MLK Week, Pride Week and Women’s Week on campus, Student Affairs thought that we could effectively utilize the space,” said CCE director LeiLoni Allen McLaughlin.

With the additional space, students will have access to lounging space, work study space and it is close to student housing, which is also beneficial, she added.

The Fort Douglas office will be staffed the same hours as the main office location on the fourth floor of the Olpin Union in rooms 408/409 .

“It’s really beneficial, especially in terms of student organizations,” she said. “All student orgs as well as departments across campus can reserve the space for meetings or campus events.”

She said having the new space allows CCE to have programming events there for free, negating the expense of paying for spaces in other buildings as was the case until recently.

“It is cost effective in that sense, for sure,” Allen McLaughlin said.

She noted that for some students who accessed the space when it was the BCC, revisiting it might bring feelings of sadness. She said it’s understandable to grieve the loss of the BCC as it was safe space for students for several years.

But the CCE staff will do all they can to help create a similarly welcoming environment in the newly rebranded upper campus building, she said.

“I don’t want that to be overlooked at all. We definitely understand the attachment our community had for the Black Cultural Center and how much that meant to our campus,” Allen McLaughlin said. “We’re still keeping the artwork up there. We still have the books that were donated by black authors and black community spaces.”

“We want folks to know the history of the space will not be forgotten or overlooked,” she said.