Over nine months after Utah passed an anti-DEI bill that would lead to the closure of Utah State University’s Inclusion Center, some of the people affected gathered to discuss struggles and possible resources.
H.B. 261, which was signed in late January and took effect in July, banned some diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in Utah public institutions — including DEI-related programs and offices at schools.
In response, Utah State University closed its Inclusion Center and expanded its CARE Office, moving the Asian Student Association, Black Student Union, Disabled and Nuerodiverse Aggies, Pasifika Student Union, Queer Student Alliance, and Women and Gender Issues Society to the USU Student Association (USUSA).
“USU recognizes that for our campus communities these are big changes,” USU President Elizabeth Cantwell said in the closure announcement. “The Inclusion Center has been a cornerstone for student support and engagement and has served as a vital welcoming space on our campus.”
Note: Duck Thurgood was previously involved in the Inclusion Center, and received a scholarship as president of the Queer Student Alliance from 2019-2020.
Difficult transition for clubs
At a community-run town hall on Thursday, people affected by the changes expressed struggles they’d been facing as a result of the bill. Note that all USU employees who spoke at the event made it clear they were speaking for themselves, not the university.
Jona Odulio worked for the Inclusion Center before it closed. Now they oversee several multicultural clubs and work in the university's CARE Office. Odulio said Inclusion Center students and employees weren't informed that the Inclusion Center would close until the summer, delaying and complicating the transition.
“A lot of these students are not being supported in the ways that we had hoped throughout this transition,” Odulio said.
In an emailed statement to UPR, Amanda DeRito, USU's associate vice president for strategic communications, said the university informed students about the changes as soon as decisions were made. USU also has a website dedicated to how they're complying with the bill, including guidance they were given by the Utah System of Higher Education.
Odulio said a lot of clubs haven’t been able to access their funds yet because, now that they’re under USUSA, they have to go through the slow process of opening their own bank accounts. In the meantime, some students have paid for supplies or events out of pocket. Getting donations for the clubs — which now have significantly smaller budgets — is more difficult.
USUSA Clubs and Organizations Executive Director Jade Velasquez said her own job has become more involved and challenging since the center closed, making it hard to support students the way she wants to.
“I keep getting told, ‘No, you can't do that, you can't do that, you can't do that.’ What can I do?” Velasquez said. “Because I'm here for the students. I was elected by the students, and I love the students. These underrepresented students are everything to me, because I'm an underrepresented student, and I can't do my job to represent them.”
More work for students
Several attendees said club leaders have been taking on significantly more work, including tasks that were previously done by paid interns or employees.
Cameron Moellendorf, another former Inclusion Center employee and present-day club coordinator who works in the CARE Office, said this has led to a lot of pressure on students.
“So some of our councils are full councils, some of our councils are maybe two people,” Moellendorf said. “Some of our clubs have had events, some of our clubs haven't even met this semester.”
Historically, students on these club councils received scholarships. Club leaders for 2024-2025 were also promised scholarships when they were elected in the spring, and Moellendorf and Odulio submitted proposals to grandfather in those scholarships for at least one more year.
However, Odulio said those proposals were denied, with the university saying they'd decided to “pause/hold on approving any funding requests from students or clubs for the 2024-2025 academic year.”
Then, on Oct. 9, Odulio and Moellendorf were told by Business Services and Student Involvement that awarding the scholarships wouldn't be compliant with H.B. 261 but were not given an answer as to why.
Odulio noted that none of the club constitutions require student leadership to have a certain background or identity to apply or be accepted.
Attendees of these clubs and the center in general have also felt affected. Alexa, a junior at USU, said losing the center meant losing a consistent, private, and safe space for students like her to meet.
“It’s made it hard, though, to ... be yourself in public,” Alexa said. “Like, if I go to the bathroom, will I get beat up? If I’m too openly queer in public, will I get beat up? Where do I go if I feel sad?”
DeRito said said they recognize these losses have been difficult for students.
“We realize that this is frustrating for students who had scholarships, which were $300 on average, or relied on the space and resources provided by the Inclusion Center,” DeRito said.
Resources and solutions
The meeting wasn’t only focused on struggles, however. Many individuals offered resources and possible solutions to these issues.
One common thread was how they could make things easier for struggling club leaders, whether by collaborating on events or fundraising once clubs have access to bank accounts.
“Hosting events for them, I’m going to say, and hosting spaces for them, is going to take weight off their shoulders,” Moellendorf said.
The CARE Office can also provide non-clinical support for struggling students, including navigating academic resources and university policies. Moellendorf said they’ve also established walk-in hours from 2-4 p.m. Monday-Thursday to provide a more general safe space.
“We try to use that time and one of the half of the office for students to be able to just sit and be,” they said.
“We've been talking about holding a similar study space in a reserve room every week like the Inclusion Center used to do,” added Austin, who is on the leadership team for USU's chapter of oSTEM, a student-led national society for LGBTQ+ individuals in STEM fields.
Other possible resources included on and off-campus therapy groups, the Latinx Cultural Center, local organizations like Logan Pride, and queer-friendly groups like Logan Youth Shakespeare.
Advocating together
But many attendees said they wanted not only to work around the changes, but to have their struggles addressed by the university. One was Martin, a faculty member at USU.
“I think there’s a real merit to making this, on some level, someone else’s problem, right?” Martin said. “Because right now, it is the problem of students who have lost services or their colleagues who have taken on extra labor because they don’t wanna see their buddies hurt.”
Union organizers with the United Campus Workers of Utah said they planned to advocate to the university about this issue. Groups and individuals also shared details with each other so they could support each other and make a bigger impact.
“Start small, keep in contact with your friends, check in on people,” Austin said. “Your base connections are super, super important.”
DeRito said the university has worked to continue serving and supporting students while being compliant with the new law.
