After the University of Arizona announced its plan to consolidate the seven cultural centers into one multicultural hub on May 27, students across campus became outraged about the perceived erasure of individual identities.
The decision to consolidate the centers was officially announced by Vice Provost Jenna Hatcher after the information was seemingly leaked to the press. Francisco Burke, a student at the UA and the assistant director of Feminists Organized to Resist, Create and Empower, argued that this process was done with zero transparency.
Burke was in direct communication with Kim Dominguez, the director of the Gender and Women’s Resource Center, during these proceedings. According to Burke, there was originally supposed to be a meeting between the UA administration and the cultural center directors on May 22. “This meeting was made two to three months in advance, and they were basically forcing us to hold out until this meeting to know about our futures, our employment, our community, everything,” Burke said.
Burke explained that the administration canceled this meeting the week before. Two days later, the information of the consolidation plan was leaked to the Arizona Daily Star. That Monday, according to Burke, the administration brought all the directors, except Julian Juan, into a meeting where they were told that they would be laid off.
During the entirety of the spring semester at the UA, the fate of cultural centers was a floating question for many students. Throughout this period, Burke explained that he feared what his next school year would look like. Burke had viewed the Gender and Women’s Resource center as a space of solace since he began his undergraduate career. He wondered if it would cease to exist.
“I have a lot of frustration and disappointment in our administration that, for months, they would unprofessionally and villainously toy us along, having students wonder if their safe place would be upheld,” he said.
The laid off directors, according to Burke, were told by the administration that they could compete for two administrative director positions for the new Student and Culture Engagement Hub. “My initial thoughts and feelings were really just a lot of overwhelming grief. It felt like this was for the pleasure and entertainment of the administration,” Burke said.
Burke also explained his frustration with the fact that President Trump’s executive order against diversity, equity and inclusion has not actually been enforced due to multiple federal court dismissals. Thus, the order of reducing DEI initiatives is not something that the university is forced to comply with.
He pointed out the irony that although each cultural center will keep its physical space, the directors who ran them are being laid off. “It just goes to show that this has nothing to do with the Trump bans. This has to do with the administration’s weird toy of power, of trying to show power over students and marginalized students,” he said.
When asked what message the consolidation is sending to marginalized students across campus, Burke didn’t hold back on his feelings. “I think the message it sends is ‘You’re nothing more than a paycheck to us. You are nothing more than a warm body that pays Garimella’s salary. We don’t care if you succeed,’” he said.
Burke argued that the entire plan behind this consolidation is to silence student activists through stripping them of their identities. “They don’t want to serve these students. They don’t want to be accountable for them,” he said. Burke, however, credits Dominguez for reaffirming his worth.
He claimed that by removing the leadership from each cultural center, the university is setting them up to fail — hoping that students will eventually give up out of exhaustion or frustration. But Burke does not plan on letting that happen. “They cut the heads off of our leaders, and they’re waving them in front of us, but we will succeed despite the university trying to hold us down,” he said.
In terms of the ‘multicultural’ label that has been placed on the new consolidated center, Burke questioned its validity. “I am not multicultural. I am transgender. I am a Latino man, and I am a queer man. I am not multicultural,” he said.
To give a further example, Burke explained that “A Black student doesn’t go into the African American Student Association and say ‘I’m showing up as my multicultural self.’ No. They say, ‘This is a space where I can be unapologetically Black and I don’t have to worry about getting weird stares or controlling the volume of my voice,” he said.
Finally, Burke expressed some concerns with how this decision could impact resources available to students. For starters, a lot of DEI or identity-based scholarships are given through the university and its centers. This decision, from the viewpoint of a lot of students, threatens those scholarships.
Additionally, he reasoned that the Gender and Women’s Resource Center is the only place on campus that actively fights gender-based violence. They also provided around 782 Plan B pills to those who needed it last year, according to Burke. He feared that their “Feminist Pharmacy” may even be viewed as a bad thing simply because of its name.
As for FORCE, Burke declared that the group is stronger than ever, with united leadership and the wisdom to adapt to any changes.
A significant uproar also came from the sudden termination of Juan, the former director of the Native American Student Association.
On Feb. 19, Jacquelyn Francisco, a Native law student, tried to speak up about the removal of DEI from the land acknowledgement at a Tribal Leaders Summit hosted by the UA. Tessa Dysart, a senior administrator and Vice Provost of the Office of Native American Initiatives, did not allow Francisco to speak in front of the podium at the event.
After this event, Dysart showed up to a NASA event on April 11. According to Juan, this made many Native students feel uncomfortable, so he asked Dysart to leave. Many students believe that Juan’s termination was a direct retaliation from his effort to advocate on behalf of Francisco.
Along with the announcement of consolidation, the university also disclosed that NASA would be integrated into the Office of Native American Initiatives, and thus overseen by Dysart.
In a public statement on LinkedIn, Francisco shared her feelings on the situation. “The question is no longer whether we will be erased. The question is whether we are willing to accept it,” Francisco said.
The Native American student body released a statement, shared by graduate student William Carson and signed by Francisco. “The University of Arizona stands at a crossroads: one path leads toward continued partnership with the Indigenous peoples whose land it occupies, and the other toward a betrayal of the communities enshrined in its public promises and acknowledgement,” the statement reads.
Other student organizations on campus made their voices on the situation heard.
The Associated Students of the University of Arizona released a statement on June 2. The statement read that ASUA “recognizes the essential role of our cultural resource centers as spaces for academic support, cultural belonging, and personal development.” They also provided a feedback form for students to share their personal experiences with cultural centers.
The Coalition to Protect Students and Workers released a written call on the university. “This is a humiliating display of our upper administration’s incompetence, considering this assault is in response to an unofficial executive order that has failed to hold legal merit in multiple judicial courts around the country,” the call reads.
Arian Chavez, member of CPSW, highlighted the important work done by CRC directors. “These are people who have long been pillars of the U of A community and are now left without a job abruptly, forced to compete for two remaining director jobs solely for the entertainment of the administration,” Chavez said.
Harvey Ortiz, a Ph.D. student at the UA and a member of CPSW, had some additional thoughts to share. “The monolithing of cultures neglects nuances, where we should be embracing complexity. Different students have different needs, and our centers effectively fill those niches,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz and Chavez also highlighted concerns over the fact that Dysart is now in charge of NASA’s integration after she physically silenced a Native student.
“NASA, like all other cultural resource centers, provides a safe space for all students regardless of background, and by placing a ‘multicultural’ label, the administration effectively erased the uniqueness and history of those centers,” Chavez said.
In the last weeks of the spring semester, CPSW did many things to engage and educate the student body on the importance of cultural centers, such as holding a ‘Flood the CRCs’ campaign. This brought new visitors, including students and Tucson locals, into the centers.
Additionally, on the day that directors from the cultural centers were notified they would be laid off, CPSW created an art installation outside the meeting location by taping up protest signs. Ortiz pointed out that CPSW is open to anyone on campus or the broader community who is inspired to advocate for students and workers on any issue.
Ortiz finally referenced the frustration held amongst many students, in that the administration is not hearing them. “They haven’t been talking to students about these decisions — they’ve been listening to our chants and megaphone speeches from their air-conditioned offices,” Ortiz said.
“We will step up. But it’s exhausting and frustrating that we need to, time after time,” Burke said.
In the Marginalized Students UA Demands of 2016, students initially asked for more resources catered to their specific needs and identities. This is largely what pushed forth the original creation of more staff positions within cultural centers. “Never settle for the lie that the university strives to extend itself beyond traditional boundaries or sustain 100% engagement,” it read.
