Link to the google Doc and full letter
If you live in Utah, I implore you to read it and potentially also sign it and spread it around. Especially if you're a student or future student at the U or even if you're still thinking about it.
Transcript of the full letter:
August 28, 2024
Dear Pres. Randall, SVPAA Montoya, SVP Good, and VP McDonald:
As graduate and undergraduate students in the campus community, we strongly oppose closing the LGBT Resource Center, the Center for Equity and Student Belonging, and the Women's Resource Center. Additionally, we oppose the re-organization of the American Indian Resource Center/Center for Native Excellence and Tribal Engagement and the Black Cultural Center. Student and graduate student signatories join the Queer Alliance for Faculty and Staff (QUAFFS), Latinadad, the Asian/Asian American Faculty, Staff, & Graduate Student Association (A3), the Black Faculty and Staff Association (BFSA), and more than 430 other faculty and staff in calling for a Presidential Town Hall. Furthermore, we students call for efforts to reverse the closures and re-integrations of these centers and to uphold them as independent centers that address structural inequalities for underrepresented students. These centers were open to all students, but underrepresented students deserve to have named, visible support on campus. These centers are so important that students are presently having to band together and create student-led organizations, such as the Student Pride Center, to make up for the needs of students that the university has chosen to no longer serve or represent. These centers have always opened their doors to all members of the campus community. While we understand that these closures come in response to HB 261, we feel that the outright, sudden closure of many centers is unnecessary to comply with the law given the centers' importance and open access. Furthermore, the law requires the reorganization of resources such as tutoring, academic advising, and scholarships, but cultural and community-based resources were not included in the law and should have been preserved or even enhanced. The closures reduce visible support systems that are vital to fostering an environment that supports underrepresented and marginalized students' ability to thrive.
Undermining the University Mission. The mission of the university is to, "prepare students of diverse backgrounds for lives of impact as leaders and citizens," and the university claims to, "engage local and global communities to promote education, health, and quality of life." In addition, the Graduate School's mission emphasizes efforts to, "support our broadly diverse student and postdoctoral scholars and communities." To close centers that promote mental health and quality of life for underrepresented students goes directly against these mission statements. Furthermore, the message sent to both enrolled and prospective students through these decisions is that our communities are not worth uplifting in times when the state-wide and global community challenge our right to a supportive educational environment. Prospective graduate students have already begun voicing concerns in relation to the university's limited support for their identities while interviewing for positions at the U. These closures will deter qualified and innovative scholars from enrolling. As the message sent through these closures strongly contradicts the mission of the university, we feel that these closures should be undone, and more effort should be directed to preserving these centers in the campus community regardless of HB 261.
While students often hold multiple marginalized identities, the arrangement of this letter is segmented to address several individually. It is important to note that for many individuals who hold multiple marginalized identities, the effects of removing these group specific resources are multiplied.
Impacts on the LGBTQ+ Students of the U. The University of Utah had one of the largest delegations in this year's pride parade, which occurred only about a month before the announced closure of the LGBT Resource Center on campus. The delegation was made up of around 900 students, faculty, staff, alumni, and allies. The very same center that is being closed arranged this opportunity for students to walk in the parade. This resource center was vital to empowering LGBTQ+ students on campus to feel visible within their community. The closure of this center could not only impact the arrangement of the parade in future years, if the University does not announce its continuing support for and make plans to lead this event, but it will also remove vital resources and support that were central to fostering student belonging.
Both LGBTQ+ undergraduate and graduate students benefited greatly from the LGBT Resource Center. Graduate students cited LGBT Resource Center events such as the Gay-la and crafting workshops as fostering their sense of belonging and community. Since many graduate students travel far from home to attend graduate school, often to cities they have never before visited, this community was a vital support system for this group.
Impacts on Women of the U.
The Women's Resource Center was vital to undergraduate and graduate students of all genders on campus, offering scholarships to the entire student body. One student expressed that she would not have a degree without the Center, as it supported her financial struggles as a student both through scholarships and community connections. The student went on to complete her degree and pursue multiple professional experiences throughout her time in college that would have otherwise felt unattainable. Graduate students cite the Women's Resource Center as providing vital support to students hoping to build a family or navigate parenthood during their time at the University. One graduate student expressed that the center held space for her questions and concerns regarding being a woman on campus, and that the center was a "place of refuge" for when she felt vulnerable. Graduate students also noted how counseling services housed in the Women's Resource Center were integral to maintaining positive mental health. These services provided more confidentiality to graduate students involved in psychology, counseling, and other programs within the university and allowed these graduate students to seek services with providers who were not also their coworkers and peers. Furthermore, these counseling services were tailored to and likely more effective for the identities of individuals utilizing them.
Impacts on Indigenous Students of the U.
Closing the Women's Resource Center also prevents them from further documenting reproductive justice advances and hinderances for Indigenous peoples and engaging in related advocacy. This closes the door on vital work that is necessary to document and increase Indigenous individuals' rights nationwide. Furthermore, re-organizing the American Indian Resource Center does not fully honor the University of Utah's promise to prepare students for a college education (by providing resources at the college level) and to increase their college attendance, as outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ute Indian Tribe and the University of Utah. Reorganizing and closing centers that serve the Indigenous community will likely deter enrollment by Indigenous students in the future. A university built on the homeland of the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute, and Ute Tribes should do more to honor and preserve resources for its Indigenous students.
Impacts on Black Students of the U.
The Black Cultural Center has offered opportunities for engagement and development across the community. Its re-organization destroys a vital point of visibility for Black students on campus. By closing the Black Cultural Center, the community will likely lose excellent programs for empowering diverse leaders, including the Operation S.U.C.C.E.S.S program. As a predominantly White institution, the university should be working to create more visibility for Black students on campus, not less, especially given that the Black Cultural Center hosted programs that directly benefited the university's mission of empowering a diverse student body to be future leaders.
Conclusion. We hope that, by presenting the responses of students across campus to these closures, we show the need for these resources and the devastating effects the closures of these centers will have on the morale and lived experiences of underrepresented students. This reduced morale will likely negatively affect degree success and retention for underrepresented students. Furthermore, alumni are unlikely to support a university at which they felt excluded and under-supported, either through money or by word of mouth. Finally, as previously discussed, removing these resources goes against the mission of the university to create a space for diverse students and engage with the global community.
Sincerely,
Dara Zwemer, Co-Author and Graduate Student
[X anonymous graduate students]
[X anonymous undergraduate students]
[X anonymous alum]