UW-EC professors, alumni criticize chancellors for lack of transparency

Jun. 29—EAU CLAIRE — Members of the UW-Eau Claire community are calling for change following what they say was a year without accountability and transparency from university administration.

A letter signed by at least 125 professors from virtually every university department criticizes Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Student Affairs Olga Diaz and Chancellor James Schmidt for their roles in the marginalization of students served by EDISA, the resignations of seven EDISA staff members and the disregard for collaboration and shared governance in EDISA decision-making.

"In this letter, we state our concerns and explain their importance to us as faculty members at UWEC who, like you, care deeply about our community," the letter states. "Our hope is that you will consider joining us as we advocate for greater transparency and accountability from Vice Chancellor Diaz and Chancellor Schmidt."

According to one of the signatories, who declined to comment on the record, the letter will not be sent to administration. Rather, the goal is to increase awareness among faculty, then send out another letter to the entire campus community.

However, another group may have already beat them to it. And they're hoping to take things a step further.

The UWEC BIPOC Alumni Coalition sent a series of letters to the UW-Eau Claire executive administration outlining similar concerns between May 18 and 20.

In the letters, they asked that the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Blugold Beginnings be reinstated as separate entities following the decision to combine them during the 2021-2022 school year; that the university follow the leadership of Black, Indigenous and People of Color students, staff and faculty and that the university replace Diaz as vice chancellor for EDISA.

Diaz was named vice chancellor for EDISA in spring 2021, and began work June 14, 2021, following the departure of Warren Anderson.

According to the coalition's Facebook page, Schmidt responded to the demands on Tuesday, roughly a month-and-a-half after their initial letter was sent.

"As student needs and interests change, we will continue to find the best ways to provide robust student engagement experiences for all underrepresented students attending UW-Eau Claire," he wrote in an email to the coalition. "I truly appreciate your continued interest and support for our students, staff and faculty members."

Faculty concerns

The faculty letter, dated June 14, names the decision to combine OMA and Blugold Beginnings as the action that best symbolizes a disregard for student voices and welfare by EDISA leadership.

Blugold Beginnings' purpose is to educate and inspire students to believe college is possible through outreach programs in the Eau Claire Area School District. The program supports underrepresented, low-income or first-generation students. OMA, on the other hand, mainly serves to provide culturally specific advising to students of color, and to cultivate cultural identity and space within academic success.

The offices had been merged in 2016, but were quickly separated due to staffing issues, Diaz explained. Though the merge happened before her time at the university, an analytical report of events had been provided to her.

According to the faculty letter, EDISA discussion of the plan to once again combine the two entities began as early as October 2021, but did not become widely known amongst students until February 2022.

Diaz said the process wasn't so simple. She told the Leader-Telegram she initially met with the directors from both OMA and Blugold Beginnings in November 2021. She checked with them to ensure she had a proper understanding of the services offered by the two entities, then confirmed that there was an overlap in those services.

From there, Diaz said, a plan to merge the offices was set in motion. Both teams were pulled together to work through the details in December. Three employees who were present during the first merge expressed their concerns and offered their insights. By the time a plan was drafted, the university had emptied for winter break.

Students were informed of the idea upon returning to campus in early February.

As more people learned of the change, Diaz hosted open houses that allowed students, faculty and staff to ask questions and voice their concerns. Ultimately, the letter states, no changes were made as the plan was already in motion. On March 7, UW-Eau Claire's Student Senate passed a resolution 25-0-1 condemning the unilateral decision to merge the two units without sufficient student input.

The letter also expressed concerns about seven EDISA staff members resigning in succession, beginning in July 2021.

"We understand that colleagues pursue career opportunities beyond UW-Eau Claire for personal and professional reasons, often both," the letter adds. "However, if we accept that an institution has no control over such departures, then why bother talking about retention at all? Those of us who met with VC Diaz in February asked her to commit to creating a retention plan for OMA and BB staff members as they transition to the new organizational structure. We have heard no update."

Diaz, who conducted exit interviews with several of the departing staff members, attributed the turnover to expected career growth.

"As much as I don't want to have staff turnover or lose people, they were going on to bigger, better things," Diaz said. "And the way I see it, their experience working at UWEC was part of the beginning of their career. They were not in positions that would've been career-long positions. They were learning and growth opportunities for them within higher ed."

The letter went on to say that EDISA staff dynamics currently exist in a state of disarray, "so much so that an outside consultant has been hired and tasked with assessing and repairing strained relationships within the unit."

Diaz confirmed that an outside consultant, Gerry Priciado, was brought in. But she said he was hired by the institution to do executive-level coaching with everybody, not just EDISA. She said she did meet with him and utilize his expertise, but his general goal on campus was to help staff and faculty accomplish more effective processes and working relationships institution-wide.

The final point outlined in the faculty letter focused on shared governance and relationship-building between EDISA and the rest of the university.

Neither of those things has been demonstrated, the letter states, despite ample opportunity.

According to the letter, more than a dozen alumni, students, faculty and staff met regularly over the course of a year to create the comprehensive, research-based 2025 EDI Strategic Plan, which should have effectively guided EDISA progress over the past academic year.

The plan was presented to Diaz on June 30, 2021.

"Later that summer, VC Diaz led a review of the plan — one that included no members of the committee — and in September met with the committee only to voice wholesale disapproval of it," the letter states. "To date, the original Plan has not been shared with the university community, and there is no sign of any implementation of any of its recommendations."

The letter refers to the dismissal of the committee's efforts as "not only a waste of human and material resources but also as inexplicably reckless given the stakes in our current political landscape."

Diaz said the plan presented to her last summer was always meant to be a draft. She said it was very thorough, but still required refinement. As finishing touches are made on the plan this summer, Diaz said she hopes to consolidate the content on an informational website that will outline a plan for moving forward this fall.

Alumni also take a stand

Similarly, the UWEC BIPOC Alumni Coalition's letters directly to Schmidt address three key areas of concern — with a significant emphasis of that concern based around the merging of OMA and Blugold Beginnings.

In an email sent to the university community also on Tuesday, Diaz said the merge will enable both OMA and Blugold Beginnings, now called Multicultural Student Services, to be more effective.

"Although the name is new, the spirit and services offered continue the work of OMA and Blugold Beginnings," she wrote. "Absolutely no services will be eliminated because of the merger of the OMA and Blugold Beginnings. In addition, the University has approved additional funds to invest in recruitment and retention of diverse and underrepresented students."

Diaz told the Leader-Telegram she believes "the combination of the staff of these two former departments into one is going to strengthen our ability to provide services in an intentional way for a student population that's underrepresented. Good work was happening in the separate departments, and that work will continue."

The coalition said this doesn't sway their position, though, arguing the lack of student involvement from the very beginning has broken their trust.

Ka Vue, a founding member of the coalition and a 2017 UW-Eau Claire graduate, said she remembers the struggles that came with the 2016 merge. And though Diaz says this attempt will be different, Vue said EDISA's lack of communication with BIPOC students has been disheartening to hear about.

"Knowing individuals who have worked with, alongside, under Olga, I know that all of this, at face value, is not the truth," Vue said. "Because, ultimately, she has not listened to the demands and the concerns of students."

The group also stated in its letters to Schmidt that BIPOC students, faculty and staff are best-equipped to inform EDI implementation on campus, and should therefore lead in the efforts to achieve the changes the university seeks to cultivate.

Qualifications are key, though, the coalition states.

In its final demand, the UWEC BIPOC Alumni Coalition urged Schmidt to replace Diaz as vice chancellor for EDISA with a "qualified expert," stating that Diaz's EDI efforts on campus have proven harmful to BIPOC students and have created an environment of hostility, divisiveness and dismissiveness.

"The purpose of an EDI chancellor is to be the megaphone for BIPOC students, because students already don't have a lot of power on campus," Vue said. "And we like to say that they have power and stuff like that, but in reality the decisions are made at a level that's up here, and students are rarely ever to make it there. We need coalitions, we need students, we need faculty, we need staff to band together to be like, 'I'm going to be the voice of students, because no one else is listening to them.' "