A Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Collective says a University of Arizona administrator has told staff the UA plans to centralize six of the campus’ seven cultural and resource centers, which could lead to layoffs.
The centralization plan, which the collective says could lead to “mass layoffs of undergraduate, graduate, and professional staff,” will be submitted to UA President Suresh Garimella on Monday, Julio Cammarota, a UA College of Education liaison to the cultural and resource centers, said the centers’ leaders were told by Interim Provost Ron Marx in a February meeting.
The centers have more than 80 staffers, the collective said.
UA spokesperson Mitch Zak did not directly answer the Arizona Daily Star’s questions Friday on whether such a centralization plan or possible layoffs are in the works, what it would entail if so, and whether Marx did make the statements. He also did not immediately respond to a request for an interview with Marx.
“We appreciate the input from our community as we consider the changing policy landscape. As we work to comply with the laws that govern us, we are guided by the compassion and respect we have for all members of our university community,” Zak said in a written statement Friday to the Star.
In a letter, the newly formed DEIA collective is urging the UA and the Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s three public universities, to restore commitment to the UA’s cultural and resource centers, in the face of the Trump administration’s orders that universities end DEI programs or lose federal funding.
University of Arizona students on campus.
ABOR’s Vice President of Public Affairs Megan Gilbertson responded Friday, “We appreciate the community’s passion and commitment to a supportive campus that respects all backgrounds.”
“Our universities must follow the laws that govern us, and as our biggest funder — responsible for faculty jobs, student grants and loans, and more — the federal government has made its intentions clear. ABOR remains committed to the long-term health and success of Arizona’s public universities and the students they serve,” Gilbertson said, stating ABOR had not directly received a letter of demands from the DEIA collective.
The UA DEIA Collective released its public letter of demands through its Instagram page Thursday, asking ABOR and UA leaders to respond by April 1 on their commitment to the university’s six cultural centers that are under the threat of centralization: Asian Pacific American Student Affairs, African American Student Affairs, the Guerrero Student Center, LGBTQ Student Affairs, the Women & Gender Resource Center, and the Disability Cultural Center.
The seventh cultural center, Native American Student Affairs, isn’t at immediate risk of being centralized by the UA administration, since Indigenous students are legally a protected political identity, the collective said. The group said Native American Student Affairs is part of the collective nonetheless, due to Indigenous students’ concerns about anti-DEIA efforts.
The centralization plan is to consolidate the six centers and restructure them under one new name, Cammarota said the centers’ leaders were told.
“The main idea was to protect the services that the centers offered but restructure them so that there aren’t seven individual (centers),” he told the Star Friday. “I don’t know how many that they’re going to make — one or two. That wasn’t very clear.”
Cammarota said Marx told them the centralization plan will possibly be carried out in May or June.
The collective, “a coalition of full-time, undergraduate and graduate DEIA staff from UA’s main campus,” addressed its letter Thursday to ABOR, Garimella, Marx and Laura Todd Johnson, senior vice president for legal affairs and general counsel.
They seek a response to “avoid further instability for the over 80 staffers, 28,000 students served by the CRCs each year, and 70 affiliate student clubs and organizations.”
The collective, made up of 32 members, was created during the last week of February, soon after the meeting with Marx and after Garimella sent out a university-wide communication on Feb. 18 stating the UA would take an inventory of its DEIA-related programs, jobs and activities.
That came after the Trump administration issued a federal order on “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing” and the U.S. Department of Education sent a Feb. 14 letter stating all race-conscious admissions, financial aid, hiring, training and more are illegal, and pledging to withhold federal funding for violations.
In response to the federal directives, UA took down the websites for its Office of DEI and the Cultural and Resource Centers, and also deleted the phrase “committed to diversity and inclusion” from its “land acknowledgment” statement, which has been displayed on the university’s websites, email signatures and elsewhere since 2021.
The collective’s statement said, “Despite ongoing lawsuits and preliminary injunctions (over the Trump administrations orders), UA’s preemptive compliance would have devastating effects on DEIA workers at all levels of the UA.”
The collective said it has three demands: That university leaders show commitment to the existence of and investment in the student support programs offered by the cultural centers; continued employment, benefits and safety for undergraduate, graduate and full-time staff at the centers; and that university leaders provide stability, transparency and “improved communication” with campus stakeholders.
The services offered by the cultural centers include: social support through open houses, drop-in hours and community spaces; wellness support through on-site mental health counselors who served over 527 students in fiscal year 2024; academic support through financial aid peer advisors, study halls and graduate school exam prep; physical spaces for student organizations; and cultural programming.
Cammarota emphasized that all the centers were open to all students regardless of their cultural identities.
