University of Kansas students protest the firing of proctor who spoke about housing policy change

Yahoo

03-04-2025

University of Kansas students protest April 2, 2025, in response to the elimination of gender-inclusive housing assignments for the fall semester. (Maya Smith for Kansas Reflector)
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Housing fired scholarship hall proctor Anthony Alvarez after he spoke to the media and refused to intervene in protests against the elimination of gender-inclusive housing.
Students and residents of Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall launched a new protest Wednesday in front of Strong Hall to stand in solidarity with Alvarez.
Alvarez expressed little regret for participating in actions that led to his termination even though he can no longer live in the hall. He intends to keep protesting KU Housing's decision.
'I can't live in the place where I foster community,' he said. 'I didn't do this for the money. I did this for my community. It is very, very hurtful. But I am thankful for the amount of support I have received.'
KU Housing did not respond to email or phone calls seeking comment.
Alvarez was put on probation March 13 after a meeting with housing staff. In a letter obtained by Kansas Reflector, Emily Chellgren, KU Housing assistant director, said he violated policy by speaking to news media instead of forwarding the request to his supervisor 'despite knowing job expectations prohibited (him) from doing so.'
Kansas Reflector interviewed Alvarez for a March 4 story about students protesting the decision to eliminate gender-inclusive housing.
Alvarez was terminated March 14 after staff were made aware via security footage that he helped residents hang a banner outside of Grace Pearson rather than addressing the situation with residents and filing an incident report. His termination letter, also obtained by Kansas Reflector, noted he was already on probation for speaking with a reporter.
'I think it's a bad sign that for infractions as little as this, you could get fired and kicked out and very quickly find yourself in a position where you have to find a place to live,' Alvarez said. 'This makes it so that these undergrad students really feel the necessity to enforce policy that they may consider to be unjust or discriminatory.'
According to an article published by the University Daily Kansan, eight residents and proctors of Grace Pearson spoke to the press under anonymity. No other proctors have been put on probation.
First Amendment lawyer Max Kautsch said because there's no evidence of other proctors being put on probation for speaking to the press, KU Housing didn't violate Alvarez' free speech rights. But Kautsch said the university should be cautious of how it handles the situation going forward.
'The First Amendment's been implicated, but to the extent there's a violation, the facts right now don't necessarily lend itself to that,' Kautsch said. 'It's the kind of thing if you're the university, you got be conscious of.'
The protest Wednesday brought both Grace Pearson residents and other KU students together to protest in front of Strong Hall for nearly five hours. For student Leah Johnson, protecting the Grace Pearson community is key to the trans community at KU.
'As a trans person myself, gender-inclusive assignments are extremely important to me,' Johnson said. 'Removing this is clearly a targeted action against trans communities that I will not stand for.'
Along with two protests, residents have taken to using sticky notes on their windows, creating messages like 'GP for GIA' and 'Keep GP Safe.' Banners hung in the hall by residents continue to be taken down by staff, seen in videos posted by residents.
'I'm choosing to protest because I think that it is a terrible decision to restrict gender inclusive assignments and to try to enforce gendered bathrooms,' said Michael Wieber, hall president. 'I think it's downright fascist, the idea of only certain people can use a bathroom, or we need to check your gender.'
According to the KU Housing handbook, decorations on windows should 'generally be directed to the interior of the room.' Many residents with sticky notes in their windows were emailed this week by Housing notifying them they would be required to attend university conduct meetings in the next week.
Some students plan to continue protests and make their voices heard. Unlike scholarship hall proctors, residents including Wieber do not have restrictions on speaking to the press.
'We're trying to get anything from KU,' Wieber said. 'It's effectively been two months where we've gotten radio silence from KU housing. It's very clear that Grace Pearson doesn't like the messages.'