Last week, a letter was submitted to University of Utah administration condemning the closures of several on-campus resource centers as the result of H.B. 261. The law went into effect on July 1 and prevents state institutions of higher education from implementing initiatives, programs or goals related to diversity, equity or inclusion.

“We strongly oppose closing the LGBT Resource Center, the Center for Equity and Student Belonging, and the Women’s Resource Center,” the letter reads. “Additionally, we oppose the re-organization of the American Indian Resource Center/Center for Native Excellence and Tribal Engagement and the Black Cultural Center.”

The letter was written on the behalf of both undergraduate and graduate students at the U. Over the summer, the U’s administration also received a faculty and staff letter condemning the centers’ closures.

“The students most affected by these decisions were and have continually been left out of the conversation when it comes to addressing HB 261,” the student letter said. 

The student letter, which has been open for signatures since its inaugural draft on Aug. 28, has reached over 400 signatures. Dara Zwemer, a second-year graduate student and co-author of the letter, said the effort emerged from widespread frustration over the closures.

Zwemer, who identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community, expressed disappointment at the sudden elimination of the LGBT Resource Center. 

“Coming from states like Tennessee and Oklahoma, I was excited to find an LGBT Center here,” they said. “It felt like something I could rely on during my time as a grad student. When it was suddenly taken away, it felt like the rug was pulled out from under me.”

“What the centers did was provide that community to all students who sought it,” Lisa Aspinwall, a faculty member at the U and contact for Queer Alliance for Faculty and Staff, said. “We all have a sexual orientation, we all have a gender identity, we should all want to know more about it, right? It’s a university. We should be providing that information to people.”

The letter also pointed to services the old resource centers that are now in jeopardy after the centers’ closures. The letter specifically questioned the future of things like the U’s participation in the Utah Pride Parade, the LGBT Resource Center’s yearly Gayla event, resource center counseling and more. 

“I thought the students did a great job in their letter of saying what specific services have not been replaced,” Aspinwall said. “These are not trivial, right? They’re not trivial for undergrads, and they’re not trivial for graduate students.”

Some things that old resource centers provided are now delegated by the Center for Student Access and Resources (CSAR) and the Center for Community and Cultural Engagement. For example, Operation Success, which was once run through the Black Cultural Center, is now administered through CSAR.

So far, Zwemer said students have not heard back from the university’s administration regarding their letter. The faculty and staff letter received an official reply from the Provost’s Office, the student letter is still awaiting acknowledgment.

Zwemer hopes the university will consider alternatives to fully closing the centers.

 “Other universities have found ways to comply with the law without shutting down these spaces entirely,” they said. “Even if the scholarship aspects need to be restructured, reopening them as community spaces would still be a major benefit.”

Still, there are groups on campus that want to support student communities. Aspinwall said these groups “are open to all members of the campus community — period.”

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@JEmersonHagy