The very purpose of the Cross-Cultural Center is intersectional in nature, with the Center guiding conversations, creating programming, and creating advocates and activists in ways intended to bridge social identities and untangle a systemic structure that stretches across identity groups.

By working with other campus stakeholders, including other Student Life Centers and student groups, the Cross-Cultural Center has long fermented a culture of intersectional justice. Many of the students that have participated in the Cross-Cultural Center’s intersectional approach to activism and advocacy, such as the Social Justice Summit or the Activist Lab, have in turn taken the lessons learned into their private and professional lives, as students and beyond (Chanel Bradley on reviving CSUSM’s Black Student Union | Daniela Carreon discusses political unlearning)

Depicted here are some of the intersectional efforts the Cross-Cultural Center has taken part in.

Café La Paz was a twice-monthly program that rotated among the three Social Justice Centers (the Cross-Cultural Center, Pride Center, and Women's Center) starting circa 2008. One purpose of Café La Paz was to give students a place to be at night -- campus that time was largely shut down by 5 p.m., but some classes still happened at nighttime, and students still needed a place for themselves where they could study, talk, and decompress. The program was also a way for students to talk with each other about different cultural backgrounds and experiences in an intersectional way. Free coffee and snacks were provided. Café La Paz was a student-run program facilitated by a student at a different center each week - no professional staff were involved. By 2019, Café La Paz had evolved into a monthly program that was planned by a team made up of one staff member from each of the Centers, and included a name game, icebreakers, and educational components.

In addition to working with the campus and regional community, the Cross-Cultural Center also works collaboratively with students and student organizations. The Multicultural Student Leadership Council (MSLC) was a student organization founded in 2004. The primary mission of the MSLC was:

• To promote interest in multiculturalism and diversity at CSUSM
• To provide fellowship among students and faculty
• To provide a forum for the presentation of innovative ideas to the benefit of the Cal State San Marcos community

The MSLC was a nonprofit student-run organization with support of the Cross-Cultural Center. Any student at CSUSM was eligible to be a member, met four times per year, and at start consisted of four subcommittees: Structure (bylaws and process), Outreach/Marketing (recruitment of members), Programming (MSLC calendar; recommendations; activities and programs planning), and Campus Voice (political and social role of the MSLC). The first MSLC retreat was held in January of 2004, and the organization’s constitution was adopted April 19, 2004.