Trying To Make A New Start

By the middle of this summer, it was clear that the Afro-American Cultural Center would have to start doing things differently.

The administration had turned down two proposals that would have given the center massive infusions of University money, and Imani Kazana, the center's director, resigned because of the financial problems she had to deal with.

The center had started out in 1969 as a high-budget operation, with a full-time staff and an active and successful fund-raising program, but over the years the funding ran out and the center's money problems kept getting worse.

So this week the center's board of directors officially re-started the center on a new tack--low-budget student operation. At least until January, the board will not hire a replacement for Kazana and will see whether students can operate the center successfully.

The center will also move next month to a new headquarters next door to Burr Hall, a location that the board hopes will bring more undergraduate involvement than existed at the old Sacramento St. location.

All of these shifts in approach seem to be the brainchild of Archie C. Epps III, dean of students and a member of the center's board. Epps organized this week's board meeting and has been talking for several months about operating the center like other student organizations, with undergraduate directors.

The center still has a long way to go; the board has not yet worked out a final budget for this year, or made a final decision on whether to hire a full-time director, or assessed the success of a new alumni-based fund drive. But its general direction seems obvious: It is adjusting to getting by on a shoestring budget.