The University of Arizona restructured its Cultural Resource Centers during the fall 2025 semester, consolidating the seven separate centers into one Student Culture and Engagement Hub.
The consolidation of the centers was announced in late May 2025 with the creation of Campus Community Connections, a new unit in the Office of the Provost. While some changes were implemented over the summer, students and faculty began to notice their effects during the fall semester as leadership shifts and renaming of spaces took place.
New Leadership
The consolidation brought African American Student Affairs, Asian Pacific American Student Affairs, the Disability Cultural Center, the LGBTQ+2S Resource Center and the Guerrero Student Center under shared leadership while maintaining the center’s physical spaces on campus. Native American Student Affairs was moved into the Office of Native American Initiatives instead of the Student Culture and Engagement Hub.
The co-directors of the hub, Kenneth Importante and Dominique Calza were announced in a public statement in the summer. The new leadership effectively led to the termination of the existing directors for each of the cultural centers.
Renaming of Student Spaces
On Oct. 10, 2025, Campus Community Connections announced the renaming of three centers.
According to the announcement, the process was student-led and included “anonymous online surveys, in-person meetings, and social media naming contests” in order to “honor the spirit of each student space while continuing our commitment to belonging, support, and empowerment for all students”.
The new names include the MLK Dream Student Space, the Lotus Lounge Student Space and the Omnes Disability Student Space.
The former LGBTQ+2S center remains without a permanent name and the space is currently referred to as Student Union Memorial Center room 404.
“SUMC 404 Student Space staff and their affiliated student council are currently engaging in an intentional process to rename their space,” Importante and Calza said in the announcement.
Student Response
Since the beginning of the consolidation process and the fall semester, many students have expressed concern that the change diluted the support of each center and a reduction in student decision making.
Several student groups have criticized the administration for what they say is a lack of communication and support during the transition.
“We weren’t informed until the day the directors were laid off that they were being laid off, and all this is is political party and political gang, and we the students, are the ones that suffer,” said Francisco Burke, a student member of the Women and Gender Student Space and co-director of Feminists Organized to Resist, Create and Empower.
Burke explained the consolidation and changes made to the centers have made many students feel ostracized and “snuffed out”.
“It does feel like that sense of them trying to erase us is there, unfortunately,” Burke said. “However, we still find joy, because joy is radical, and that is the ultimate protest against them trying to get rid of us.”
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