Among Cleveland State University’s recent layoffs of staff and faculty is its director of LGBTQ+ Student Services, Jenna Martinez. Martinez was informed of the elimination of her position in August, and her last day of employment was September 13.
Martinez was told by university officials she would receive a transition plan for LGBTQ+ Student Services before her last day. That didn’t happen.
“I fear that a transition plan has not been shared because there isn’t one,” Martinez said..
To mitigate a projected $40 million budget shortfall, CSU this year has cut programs, laid off personnel and offered buyouts. University officials have publicly said that institutions of higher education in Ohio and across the nation are facing unprecedented enrollment and financial challenges, but asserted that they are committed to supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
“Our work to create a more inclusive and welcoming campus for all remains the same; the department is eager to continue supporting our students with no lapse in service,” Reena Arora-Sánchez, executive director of communications at CSU, told The Buckeye Flame via email.
The Buckeye Flame followed up with Arora-Sánchez to specifically confirm that there would no longer be any paid staff in LGBTQ+ Student Services, but we did not receive a response.
A ‘hard-fought role’ eliminated
Opened in 2017, CSU’s LGBTQ+ Center added a full-time staff person in 2020. Kara Tellaisha, the center’s first director, said that years of advocacy from faculty, staff and “especially students” made the introduction of those services possible. Tellaisha, who left the university in 2023, said she was “heartbroken to see this hard-fought role eliminated less than five years later.”
“I’m deeply concerned for the students who relied on this office—many of whom have said it was the only place they felt truly safe on campus,” she said.
Martinez noted that the first goal of the Division of Student Belonging and Success – the administrative unit where LGBTQ+ Student Services is housed – is to ensure that all students experience a sense of engagement, well-being and belonging at the university.
“I am not sure how terminating the director role of a one-person LGBTQ+ Student Services department achieves that,” she said.
Giana Formica (they/them), a current student and a former LGBTQ+ Center office assistant, sees the elimination of the director position as the latest slight towards CSU’s LGBTQ+ community. The center’s space has always seemed like an afterthought, they said, with a couple of couches and desks squeezed into a small former classroom.
“With limited resources, we’ve always made it work with what we had, but the staff support from folks like Kara and Jenna have been vital to making CSU a brighter and queerer campus,” Formica said. “With this impactful budget cut, students won’t have access to vital programming and overall support by an adult. CSU is once again disrespecting the LGBTQ+ community on campus.”
The importance of LGBTQ+ Centers
The Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Professionals maintains a map of over 100 colleges with an office run by at least one paid professional staffer or graduate assistant directing LGBTQ+ resources.
Ken Ditlevson, director of Kent State University’s LGBTQ+ Student Center, said that having a staffed office is critical to saving lives, providing affirming and credible resources and helping the campus community learn about people who are different than themselves.
“These centers help students feel safe because they know there’s an office and paid staff member that will be there – consistently – to help them along the way if and when personal issues and needs arise, to voice concerns when things aren’t going well on campus, and to help to advocate for a more inclusive campus that supports student’s authentic beings,” he said.
Ditlevson highlighted that while LGBTQ+ student leadership is invaluable to campus activity, the efforts of student organizations ebb and flow as students graduate and new leaders come in. Further, he said that students should not be expected to conduct trainings or educate their peers.
“Having a paid staff member who is charged with supporting students, helping the community in feeling welcomed and valued, and in creating policies that are inclusive, helps the entire campus community,” he said.
With budget cuts and the elimination of diversity programming across the country, Ditlevson is fearful about the survival of diversity offices, including LGBTQ+ centers.
“It’s hard for me to understand how these programs could be eliminated, since I see countless students who value the support, programming and training, and who have expressed that our LGBTQ+ center has helped them emotionally, with staying in college, and with reaching graduation,” he said. 🔥
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