UW-Milwaukee’s Student Affairs department announced its plan to consolidate all multicultural and student advocacy centers into one centralized “hub” by Fall, 2026. Students advocating to preserve the centers raise concerns regarding the potential for institutional suppression of cultural and racial identities – and a complete disregard for the UW-System’s own legal policies.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin — 04/30/26: On the first week of the 2026 Spring Semester, UW-Milwaukee’s Vice-Chancellor for Community Empowerment & Institutional Inclusivity, Chia Vang, and Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs, Kelly Haag, released a joint statement announcing the university’s decision to consolidate its multicultural, student engagement and advocacy centers into one “centralized hub” within the Department of Student Affairs. The decision affects the Black Student Cultural Center, First-Generation+ Resource Center, LGBTQ+ Resource Center, Military and Veterans Resource Center, Off-Campus Resource Center, Roberto Hernández Center, Southeast Asian American Student Center, and Women’s Resource Center. The university states the consolidation is meant to strengthen its commitment toward academic success, and to improve “student engagement outside of the classroom,” according to a newsletter released to students at the beginning of the spring semester. In response to the centers’ consolidation, students across the campus community are organizing the Save Our Centers Block Party at UWM’s in the Union Concourse on Thursday, April 30th (12-2pm), to demonstrate their solidarity for the staff and students affected by consolidation, and the necessity for distinct identity-based spaces to create a sense of belonging for enrolled students.

The centers subject to consolidation at UWM each have their own, unique history. The student-centered spaces were originally formed as student-led, grassroots coalitions. Enrolled students, staff, and faculty who were part of key minority groups, felt underrepresented or unsupported by their institutions, and ran campaigns targeting campus administration to address inequities affecting their access to a quality education. The campaigns resulted in the establishment of multicultural student resource centers, entrusted with administering aligned campus policies to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion – for students, staff and faculty alike. The proposal to consolidate the centers was made in Spring of 2025, but students and staff were not informed until this past January, after the decision was already made. The decision-making process, without students directly involved in the proposal, directly violates Wisconsin Statute 36.09(5), which establishes students in the University of Wisconsin System must have primary responsibility for advising the chancellor’s office on any policies regarding student life, services, and interests.

Brynna Fennie, a member of the Student Identity Preservation Coalition and an organizer of the Save Our Centers Block Party shares, “UWM’s administration claims consolidation must happen because of low student retention rates, federal funding cuts, among other financial restraints. However, if the administration interfaced with students who use these spaces, they would realize investing further in multicultural centers and programs would strengthen – not weaken – their goals to improve our academic outcomes. My peers and I who regularly use these spaces are more likely to walk across the aisle than those who do not, because we have villages of staff and student workers supporting us every step of the way. The decision to consolidate makes us feel like the support systems we rely on are irrelevant to UWM’s bottom-line: maintaining profitability – rather than promoting diversity of thought, academic success, and cultural excellence.” Select staff employed at the university, who all choose to remain anonymous, express concerns that private donations made to these distinct multicultural centers will be jeopardized by consolidation, as these investments are made with the stipulation that funds are allocated exclusively to uplift different cultural and ethnic groups donors choose to invest in.

Members organizing the Save Our Centers Block Party are calling on members of the student body, alumni, and the community of Milwaukee to join them on Thursday, April 30th, celebrate the legacy of the affected centers, and demonstrate why these programs need to remain distinct. For further information about the event, visit our Instagram page (@sipuwm), and sign our petition at change.org/uwmsaveourcenters.

About the Student Identity Preservation (SIP) Coalition: UW-Milwaukee’s Student Identity Preservation Coalition, or SIP, is a student-led group of individuals working at- or attending programs led by the affected Student Resource Centers. SIP is committed to its mission of preventing the consolidation of multicultural and distinctive identity spaces at UWM, and enacting policies which strengthen the university’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion for enrolled students, and employed staff and faculty.

Media Contact:
Name: Norah Lom

Title: SIP Coalition Member
Phone: (920)450-4455
Email: studentidentitypreservation@proton.me
Social media: https://www.instagram.com/sipuwm
Petition: https://www.change.org/UWMsaveourcenters