There were student reporters from the school's newspaper, The Daily Californian, who documented this significant moment. According to the issue of the newspaper covering the center's grand opening, "In order to publicly raise awareness of Black students' grievances, the Black Student Union, or BSU, organized multiple campus protests, including the December 2014 occupation of UC Berkeley's Golden Bear Cafe and the April 2015 blocking of Sather Gate during Cal Day. " One of the students that were heavily involved in the activism expresses, "Never forget the struggle of the historical figures that allowed us to stand here in this space,"