Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

OGDEN — A contingent of Weber State students are asking the university administration to slow down in its moves to reorganize an entity focused on serving students of color, the Center for Multicultural Excellence.

The organization, know as the CME, has been instrumental in helping them adjust to university life and served as a “safe space” for them. On Wednesday, CME proponents called a meeting at the university to make their case.

“In the CME, I was met with undying support from my now-friends and from my advisors. I was treated with love, respect and support,” said Genesis Vargas. Her parents are undocumented immigrants, she said, and until learning of the CME, she felt alone at Weber State — like she didn’t belong.

Weber State President Brad Mortensen and Adrienne Andrews, vice president for equity, diversity and inclusion at the school, were on hand at Wednesday’s gathering, which was held at the Shepherd Union building and drew 40 to 50 people. University officials have described the planned changes, to take effect Jan. 3, as a “reorganization” and Mortensen emphasized that university officials aren’t “dismantling” programs geared to students of color.

“First I want to just address one of the words that’s being used and that’s dismantling the CME because I really don’t see it that way,” Mortensen said. “I see this as an evolution and a next step to build a more inclusive environment at Weber State for our students, for all of our students.”

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

Andrews announced in a Nov. 18 campus-wide memo that the university would be reorganizing the CME and instead “moving to a cultural center model.” Replacing the CME, she explained, would be separate “identity-based cultural centers” geared to African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders and the pan-Asian community.

“These centers will foster belonging, support cultural identity, encourage student leadership, facilitate critical reflection and stimulate informed action,” reads Andrews’ memo. Another entity, Dream Services, would also take shape to help undocumented students.

Andrews was promoted to her current university post last January in what she said at the time was a bid to redouble efforts to promote equity, diversity and inclusion in the university. The planned change, said her memo, culminated nine months of efforts and took feedback from students of color and consultants into account.

“Our goal is for Weber State University to be an institution where income, race or ethnicity are not factors in student access or success,” reads the Nov. 18 memo. She told the students Wednesday that the aim of the change is to make sure more students have the sort of experience through the CME that Vargas and others have had.

Even so, the announcement took Vargas and others by surprise and, with finals upon them, left them scrambling to react. “We just felt we weren’t included in that conversation,” Vargas said.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

Jennifer Duenaz, another student who spoke Wednesday, said she first became aware of the CME through her mom. Her mother, from Mexico, attended Weber State in the mid-2010s as a continuing education student and she would sometimes leave her daughter in the care of other CME students.

“All of these students motivated me at such a young age,” Duenaz said Wednesday. “I saw both sides of them. I saw the struggles, such as poverty, homelessness and depression, but also saw their path to success… thanks to the guidance of the Center for Multicultural Excellence.”

In a separate message to the Standard-Examiner, Duenaz expressed reservations with the proposed new format, with separate entities focused on distinct racial and ethnic groups.

“We believe that instead of benefitting, it will create segregation among ethnic groups,” she wrote. She and the other students hope Weber State holds off on any change until next spring, after they’ve had a chance to offer their feedback.

Joshua Wooton, another student who spoke Wednesday, said many have benefited from the CME. His CME mentors, Wooton said, “see me and I’ve never felt more safe and more secure, more appreciated or understood.”

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