Black community fights for legacy of former cultural center after ISU changed name, mission

About 50 years ago, Black students at Indiana State University fought for their own culture center on campus.

That legacy lived on for decades with the Charles E. Brown African American Cultural Center — until last May. University leaders quietly removed “African American” from the center’s name and changed its mission amid pressure to end diversity, equity and inclusion programming.

Now, students and community members want to preserve the original intent.

“I would love to see the African American Cultural Center reemerge,” Reynolds said. “In the meantime, I would like to commemorate what was there.”

Reynolds said she wants to commemorate the center with a historical marker at its original 9th Street location.

Student organizations rallied this year under senior Jaida Dagen’s “Restore the Legacy” campaign, wanting to add “African American” to the center’s name and focus.

“My fear is that I’m seeing history erased before my eyes,” Dagen said.

Indiana State spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment.

The university changed the center as the Trump Administration and Gov. Mike Braun pressured public schools to end DEI programming, threatening to withhold funding for noncompliance. Now, the culture center “is engaging in a collaborative process” to change its mission statement, according to its website.

But Black students such as senior Malia Thomas aren’t happy with the university’s transparency and communication.

The abrupt changes were made when many students were on summer break, Thomas said, and it left many of them wondering why they lost a space they loved.

“When you do it without communication and without concern for the students that it serves, it’s extremely disrespectful,” Thomas, the former Black Student Union president, said. “It’s hurtful, and it makes us feel less than.”

From the ‘Shack by the Track’ to ‘disrespect’

While some fight to restore the current center’s focus on Black students, Reynolds is working to create a historical marker to celebrate the original center’s location. She needs the university’s approval to put it on campus, but she said she’s prepared to lead and secure funding for the project.

“That culture center was a gem at Indiana State University, a gem in Terre Haute, a gem in Indiana,” Reynolds said.

Today the location has been transformed into a student recreation center, but for Reynolds, it’s where students turned lemons to lemonade.

Established in 1972 after major campus protests and demonstrations, the original culture center was in a small building next to the railroad track on 9thstreet. It was called “the shack by the track.”

“They made this little ‘shack by the track’ into an amazing center for generations of students and the community members,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said the center attracted renowned speakers and educated visitors about the Black experience. While it was open to students of all races, she said it was important for Black students to have a place of their own on a predominantly white campus.

“They fought for this culture center, and they and they were proud of it,” Reynolds said. “And I think Indiana State University was proud of it.”

The center also featured protest art from Phillip Lindsay Mason and detailed murals of past speakers and staff.

Members of Pi Kappa Alpha at Indiana State, including junior Tyler Wathen, collaborated with Reynolds this spring to educate the community about those murals. Wathen said he had no idea the murals existed or that the cultural center on campus is not the original.

Historian Crystal Reynolds shows a photo of the murals inside of the original African American Cultural Center on 9th Street in Terre Haute. After the university changed the name and mission of the center, Reynolds said she fears for the future of the murals.

Wathen said people should know this history on campus.

“I think about someone just like me, same age, that fought so hard for something that they believed in,” Wathen said. “People can take that as motivation, or look back and say, ‘Hey, I want to continue to support this and help this grow, because people did it before me. We’ve got to keep doing it now.’”

While Reynolds focuses on the former culture center, students are working to protect the current location.

Many Black students, including Dagen, found a home there. After transferring from a historically Black university, Dagen said she first learned about the center through a study abroad program in Ghana.

“I was immersed in what the cultural center is, and then immersed in what a student leader is,” Dagen said. “I was like, I needed to be a part of that.”

Dagen said she fears students won’t remember that Black students fought for a culture center, or that there’s even space on campus for them.

“I feel the university has not only disrespected the legacy, but disrespected the Black-identifying students on campus,” Dagen said.

Thomas said students are noticing even more changes on campus. She said for example, Black graduates didn’t have their own congratulatory ceremony this year.

Thomas and Dagen both support establishing historical protections for the culture center to keep it intact.

“Not only do we need that historical landmarker, but also getting historical preservation over the Charles E. Brown Cultural Center and African American Cultural Center,” Thomas said. “Making sure that nobody can ever touch the name, touch the building, take anything from it, mess with any of the financials.”

While students experienced a mix of emotions — confusion, anger, sadness — after the center changed, Thomas said the Restore the Legacy campaign isn’t about feelings. It’s a “business ask at the end of the day,” she said.

“Our campaign is strictly to get what we need to get and to advocate for our students,” Thomas said. “We are just doing this because we know it’s right.”

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