New Student Hub: Students and Community Outraged From Continued Lack of Data and Chancellor Presence

At each design input session, Chia Vang and Kelly Haag were faced with the same question from crowd members: “Why?” Why, that is, was the university determined to merge and get rid of a series of popular student identity centers.

The pair always referred to data that a general student center will improve student retention and graduation rates, access support and build meaningful connections. Audience members kept asking for numbers, but there was none being presented. 

Attendees said they want the chancellor at the meetings to speak with them personally and feel the disappointment in the room as people get emotional sharing their personal connections with the centers. 

University administration could not ignore the outpouring of defiance since the start of the open forums. Because of this, Chancellor Thomas Gibson announced at a faculty Senate meeting that he wants to “slow down a bit” on the process to get people on the same page before moving forward, said Vang at one of the sessions. 

UWM has completed its 11 design input sessions for students, staff, alumni and community members to give suggestions on the resources and look of the new student center. Chia Vang, Vice Chancellor for Community Empowerment and Institutional Inclusivity, and Kelly Haag, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, have been moderating the sessions.  

Back in late January, the university sent a mass email to students announcing the merging of all student multicultural centers under one umbrella representing the Black, Hispanic, Southeast Asian American and other student identities. 

“’Slow down’ doesn’t mean we stop everything and not do anything,” said Vang. “We will keep going, but in terms of slowing down, we want to hear more perspectives, whatever changes we make have to really make sense for our campus.”  

On the website giving details of the merger, it says that the decision for “transformation is grounded in data,” but provides no actual statistics.   

Chancellor Gibson agreed to meet with some people in the Student Union and sent out an email just hours before the scheduled time. It was supposed to be a small meeting before the word got out and 39 students showed up. There was frustration knowing the chancellor did not have much experience with the CASE offices and how he briefly visited during slow hours, said Cece, a general business major who attended the meeting with the chancellor.  

“I just want to be perfectly clear that that’s not enough time for you to see nor observe how the student are actually utilizing these spaces,” she said.  

CJ Hagan is a sophomore studying public health at UWM who often visits the LGBTQ+ Resource Center, the Black Student Cultural Center and the Women’s Resource Center. When he visits these spaces, he feels solidarity and openness, which makes him feel safe to reach out for support when needed.  

He attended UW-Whitewater before, where he experienced microaggressions and did not feel welcome. That all changed when he transferred to UWM; however, he fears that merging the multicultural centers will take that tranquility away for him. Although the chancellor is looking to slow down the process, CJ is not convinced anything will change. 

“My reaction to the pause is to put that pause in quotation marks because that is just a way of saying, ‘we’re going to make a decision, but it’s not always going to include you,’” he said. 

The Chancellor’s office did not respond to requests for a comment.  

Where did this decision come from?

Attendees say they are frustrated with this change coming out of nowhere. According to Vang and Haag, it didn’t; it is only one step of UWM’s 2030 Action Plan.  

Former Chancellor Mark Mone pitched it in 2019 to improve graduation rates, well-being of students and close opportunity gaps by the year 2030 and beyond. Along with it came the Think Tank 2030+ committee, compiled of faculty, staff, administration, one student and one outside community member, assigned to create suggestions on how best to execute goals.  

The four priority actions presented to the school aim to “revise the undergraduate student experience and develop core competencies that make a UWM education distinctive, make UWM radically welcoming and engaging for all, review our school/college organizational structure and program array and advance research excellence,” according to the website dedicated to the plan.  

To make UWM “radically welcoming,” the Think Tank 2030+ recommends an institutional cultural change. 

Achieving this goal “will require an intentionality across all employees, programs, and levels of UWM to create an institutional culture of relationship building and equity with a goal of achieving educational equity and justice at UWM,” said the committee in a final report from May of 2020.  

What’s next?

About 268 people shared their recommendations, worries, comments and complaints during the sessions, according to a report sent to the UWM community on Thursday.  

The report covers everything that was mentioned throughout all eight sessions. Some of the concerns from students, staff and alumni include: 

• Safe spaces, privacy and psychological safety.  

• Fear of identity loss, dilution or erasure.  

• Distrust in administration and lack of transparency.  

• Critical role in retention, academic success & student persistence.  

• Intersectionality and Complexity of Student Identities.  

• Staffing, leadership and future-proofing specialized expertise.  

• Legacies of centers being disregarded 

Despite continued noncompliance from a large group, Vang and Haag say they will continue to design the project with the few suggestions they have received.  

“This cannot be a square peg through a round hole kind of idea. We need to bring you all in,” said Haag at a discussion session. “If there continues to be friction and angst, then that means we haven’t found the right spot yet, and we’re going to keep working.” 

The report concludes with a few recommendations; adjust the timeline, establish a new assistant Vice Chancellor to work for the hub, provide sufficient support for center staff in the period of transition and establish a student advisory task force to aid the design process.