From: Sunrise Palouse
As a coalition of students advocating for just, livable climate futures, Sunrise Palouse condemns the decision to shut down the Black and African American Cultural Center, the Women’s Center, the LGBTQA Office, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
By abandoning these initiatives without a fight, the university is not only leaving behind under-resourced students but also abandoning the principles which serve as a foundation for higher education.
Simply put, climate justice is social justice, and we will continue to advocate for resources that support student success. It is a brazen act of cowardice to pretend that this move is to protect jobs when, in reality, it is solely motivated by potential financial hits.
While we are grateful for the university attempting to protect the staff of these offices, it is clear that the university views its own students—without whom this institution would not exist—as entirely expendable in the face of a state government which has turned its back on entire swathes of its constituents.
Conceding in advance—regardless of any public statements to the contrary—shows that the university’s administration does not care about the well-being of its students. If they did, they would fight for us.
Sunrise Palouse has not given up the fight. If the university is intent on throwing entire communities under the bus to appease a legislature which has shown open hostility to public education, then it falls on the community to remind them of their obligation to us and push them back onto the right path.