Throngs of people listened earnestly to the speeches and cheered on the raffle giveaways and various performances while sitting in the scorching Sept. 9 afternoon heat for the Asian American Cultural Center’s grand opening celebration. University students, officials and alumni joined together to commemorate the event amid Chinese Yo-Yo demonstrations, a lion dance, speakers, a ribbon cutting ceremony and piles of free food.

The building, located at 1210 W. Nevada St., Urbana, is a brand new, two-story 6,800-square-foot facility. It has a commercial kitchen, lounge and study areas, offices and a resource room for student organizations. The center is a culmination of a yearlong project, costing $1.3 million.

But to the people who have been fighting for the center, the wait has been a lot longer than a year. Betty Jang, officer in the University’s Asian American Alumni Network and University alumna, said in her speech at the grand opening that the struggle for a cultural center began in 1974, citing a newsletter written about the troubles of Asian American students in that same year.

“I ask the University with a smile, ‘What took you so long?'” Jang, a University professor, said in her speech.

Jeffrey Sichaleune, assistant director of the center, said the organized push for a center started about 15 years ago.

“For 15 years, students have made demands to the University to create more resources for Asian American students inside the classroom and outside the classroom,” Sichaleune said.

The center is uniquely able to address needs of Asian Americans inside and outside of the classroom because of the way it is situated. It is attached to the Asian American Studies building, and the two centers share a conference room.

“This is a unique opportunity for a significant group to have a place to meet and find ways to reinforce culture,” Chancellor Richard Herman said. “(The center) speaks to the idea that we ought to be a fusion of students and academics. This is the first instance where ethnic studies and a cultural center have been put together.”

Herman also said that it was not important to dwell on why the University did not build a center earlier.

“There’s always things that are left undone, and rather than focus on why, we should celebrate the fact that we’re doing it,” Herman said.

One of the reasons Sichaleune and David Chih, the Asian American Cultural Center’s director, gave for the delay is the “model minority myth.” This is the belief that because of the success of Asians in America, Asian Americans do not face the same problems of poverty and education as the other ethnic minorities. This may have been a factor in the delay because cultural centers historically were tools for recruitment and retention, Sichaleune said. He added that because the perception was that Asian Americans do not have problems with recruitment and retention, it was not as necessary to have an Asian American cultural center.

Sichaleune said the function of the center will be to provide Asian American students a place they can use for their activities as well as to educate non-Asian Americans about the Asian American culture. He said the center will have a room to function as a mini-Quad Day for the Asian American student organizations, where they could set up informational exhibits about their organizations.

Some of the services the center will offer for the students are resume building seminars provided by the career center and a workshop sponsored by the McKinley Health Center, Sichaleune said.

“We have an interest in students, and we want to work with the cultural house,” said Jerry Ogbudimkpa, director of health education at McKinley Health Center. “We’re also interested in providing services to help with health issues and public health programs.”

One of the difficulties the center will have is catering to the large number of ethnicities that fall under the Asian American moniker, Sichaleune said. There are more than 60 ethnicities that fall under the Asian American label and catering to all of them is impossible without help.

“I think it’s too much pressure to rely on the staff to provide all the programming,” Sichaleune said. “We need the cooperation and collaboration of different people to contribute to the programs of the cultural center, from all the various student organizations to campus units to community groups. This space is for them so we hope that they will contribute to the diversity by utilizing it for their programs.”

Even with the challenge, Tahir Hafeez, graduate student and member of the Muslim Student Association, said the center is doing a good job reaching out.

“I don’t see (the center) being limited to a few specific ethnicities,” Hafeez said. “They’ve been successful in reaching out. I think after this year, whatever you see now will grow.”