UC students find home, support at school centers. But Ohio law to likely shut them down

Yahoo

25-04-2025

Students at the University of Cincinnati are worried.
Their "home away from home," they said, will likely be stripped away from them.
As the university dismantles its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order and the recently passed Ohio Senate Bill 1, student identity centers are at high risk of closing.
The university has not explicitly said the centers will close, but students and staff believe their futures are bleak.
SB 1, which Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law March 28, prohibits state universities from "the continuation of existing diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or departments" at any state institution of higher education.
The bill also says state universities are not allowed to create new DEI offices or departments or replace DEI offices or positions with ones for the same or similar purposes. Supporters of the bill say it will create an inclusive environment, one that includes conservative voices, and provides equal opportunity to all students.
The bill doesn't define diversity, equity and inclusion, also known as DEI, so it's unclear whether the identity centers fall under this term. But similar legislation in other states has caused schools there to close such centers.
UC's African American Cultural & Resource Center, commonly called the AACRC, the LGBTQ Center, the Women's Center and Ethnic Programs & Services provide resources for the identities they serve.
Friendship. Mentorship opportunities. A safe space. Support. Advocacy. Opportunities to develop confidence. Visibility. Internships. Feeling less alone at a big university. To the students The Enquirer spoke to, this is what the identity centers give them.
Although the resources offered by each center are focused on the needs of specific groups, students say they are open to everyone.
For Mickell Owusu-Korkor, a fifth-year student studying biomedical engineering, the African American Cultural & Resource Center ensured she had the "college experience." She became involved in the center's peer mentoring program called Transitions.
"I've seen a lot of things where people are like, 'Oh, I went to school and it was like, I'd never had that college experience, I never got to know people,'" she said. "I feel like joining Transitions and coming to the center from the beginning definitely erased that from happening to me."
While UC has not yet released plans for the identity centers, administrators have met with "those most impacted," according to a statement from Nicole Mayo, vice provost for student affairs.
"The most important thing I would wish to convey is our foundational commitment to individual student success. We will welcome every qualified student and provide them with the caring support they deserve – all while meeting our compliance obligations," the statement reads.
She said the university will announce a plan as soon as possible.
The African American Cultural & Resource Center played a large role in why Genesis Anderson, a third-year pre-law student of Caribbean and African descent, chose to attend the university. "When I was first coming here to UC, my biggest concern was, 'Where is the space for people that look like me?'" he said.
He found the AACRC and "immediately" got involved. Anderson said the staff make sure the students there feel safe, advocated for and taken care of.
The center also gives students a platform to become student leaders. Kuamka is the center's leadership competition. The Transitions Program offers leadership training, workshops and social and academic activities.
Anderson says the African American Cultural & Resource Center helps minority students like him feel seen through its Black Student Graduation Celebration, Tyehimba. The ceremony honors Black graduates before the campuswide ceremony.
"I think that ... people fail to recognize it can be challenging on a campus where you're the minority, right?" Anderson said. Not everybody can handle that level of stress, he said, so with Tyehimba, those who "made it through" are acknowledged.
SB 1 eliminates diversity, equity and inclusion programs and scholarships, along with preventing faculty from striking and universities from taking a stand on 'controversial beliefs.'
It's not clear, according to the language of the bill, whether the African American Cultural & Resource Center and other identity centers count as offices 'designated for the purpose of diversity, equity, and inclusion,' because the bill does not define DEI.
Mel Searle, a sophomore who described UC's women's center and LGBTQ center as her "home on campus," said she's not optimistic about the survival of either center.
Other universities in the Greater Cincinnati area announced changes. Miami University will close its Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion and relocate its staff within the university. Northern Kentucky University, which is affected by a similar bill in Kentucky, is repurposing its Center for Student Inclusiveness. The center will be renamed the Center for Community and Connections and will be directed to the entire student community, the university said in a release. The departments within the center – African American Student Initiatives, Latino Student Initiatives and LGBTQA+ Student Initiatives − will be dissolved.
More: Republicans want to eliminate DEI offices on campus. What do they do?
Ohio State University announced April 17 that it would keep its Hale Black Cultural Center and programs open, despite closing two diversity, equity and inclusion offices.
Sen. Jerry Cirino, the bill's primary sponsor, said he doesn't "have a definition of DEI particularly," though it "tends" to be "divisive." The Enquirer asked Cirino if there's a pathway for the centers to stay open if they are inclusive.
'It's likely that they would be OK,' said Cirino, though he clarified that he didn't know enough about UC's identity centers to say whether that's the case.
More: Despite DEI closures, Ohio State to keep Hale Black Cultural Center and programs open
'If it's proven to be a divisive organization, if it's eliminating and restricting who can participate, you know, then they may have some problems," he said.
Students like Anderson were firm that the AACRC does not exclude other students. "Everyone," Anderson said, "is welcome here."
Students see ramifications of the law, even though it doesn't go into effect until June. Tyehimba is one of the programs already affected.
Typically, the graduation celebrates Black students at Fifth Third Center. This year, however, the University of Cincinnati is not allowed to host the ceremony due to "recent and forthcoming legislative changes at the federal and state levels," the university officials said in the letter. Instead, the local organization Light of the World Church is hosting a similar event at Hughes High School.
Owusu-Korkor said the new venue means she can only invite five people to the ceremony. In previous years, students had an unlimited number of tickets. Tyehimba was a chance for students to invite family and friends who would not attend the university-wide commencement, which has a limited number of tickets.
Anderson is dreading this change. 'Especially in communities like the Black community, when someone is winning in a family, everybody wants to show up to support," he said. By removing Tyehimba, he said, it's restricting the joy and level of togetherness.
Ohio legislators who passed SB 1 maintained that the bill would make Ohio's universities and colleges a more welcoming place for all students. But for Anderson, what drew him to the university is disappearing.
'My younger brother's considering going here," Anderson said. 'All the big things that I was excited to share with him if he were to come here are not here anymore."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Future of University of Cincinnati's centers unclear amid Ohio DEI law