Kansas University has unveiled the name of the donor to its Multicultural Resource Center as groundbreaking for the facility approaches.

University officials said Tuesday that the Sabatini Family Foundation had donated $1 million to the project, which is slated for construction to begin later this year.

“This is becoming more visible,” said Steve Munch, student body president. “With the donor secured and announced and the site dedication approaching, I think people will get excited about the fact it’s going to be a reality.”

The foundation donated the money in 2004, but the university wanted to wait until fund-raising was complete on the $2.7 million facility before announcing the donor.

In addition to the foundation’s gift, funding for the MRC will come from $1.5 million in student fees and $200,000 in university funds.

The Sabatini family includes Frank C. Sabatini, who received degrees from KU in 1955 and 1957. He is a former state representative and member of the Kansas Board of Regents; he is chairman emeritus of Capital City Bank in Topeka, where he and his wife, Judith, live.

It also includes their children Marc, Matt, Michael and Dan. Michael and Dan Sabatini also are KU alumni.

In a statement, Dan Sabatini said the family hoped the gift would foster diversity at KU. He said it also reflected the experiences of his father’s family, who came to the United States in 1930 from Italy to escape economic recession for better opportunities.

“My grandparents certainly weren’t in the majority when they arrived in the United States, and there was a lot of discrimination toward Italian Catholics at the time,” he said. “We felt like this gift was a good opportunity to support minorities in the United States and believe that it is vital to have continuing immigration and diversity in our culture.”

6News video: KU announces gift for multicultural center State funds to kick-start Multicultural Resource Center (10-13-04)

The facility will be 7,000 square feet and added to the fourth floor of the Kansas union. A site dedication ceremony will be held in March, with groundbreaking in August or September. The center is scheduled to be complete by fall 2006.

It will provide a larger, more visible and more accessible center than the current MRC, which is near the Military Science Building in what was designed to be a temporary structure.

The new MRC will include meeting rooms and other gathering space for groups and staff promoting diversity on campus.

The Kansas Union also is considering using the MRC as a springboard for an expansion of its own. David Mucci, the union’s director, said the union may decide to construct rooms on the second and third floors — under the MRC on the fourth floor — at the same time.

The union construction would cost around $1 million and would add about 9,000 square feet for offices and bookstore space. The union and MRC could share some infrastructure costs, he said.

Funds could come from operational reserve accounts or through a loan, Mucci said.

“The project will never get cheaper,” he said. “Also, it would be one set of disruptions instead of two.”