Vice President of Student Affairs Robin Holmes met with members of the UO Truth Coalition Monday afternoon to go over the group’s demand that the University administration freeze any transitions from the Office of Multicultural Academic Success to the Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence.
As coalition representatives met with Holmes, approximately a dozen students clad in black stood on the steps of Johnson Hall wielding signs and loudspeakers.
The meeting came just over two weeks after an initial agreement made with Holmes on Nov. 11. In that agreement, Holmes had agreed to allow a student advisory board to work alongside the University administration during the hiring process. She also agreed to retain current OMAS services and create more scholarships for students of color.
The freeze was not a part of the demands listed at that meeting. The new demand stems from concerns that — until the advisory board is officially created — changes can still be made without student input.
“We cannot enjoy our much-needed break knowing that when we return, drastic changes will have occurred without our consent,” coalition representatives wrote in a press release.
According to the coalition’s demands, a freeze would mean that advisers and staff currently working at OMAS would keep their current job titles, duties and office spaces until students have had a chance to work with administrators. The students also demanded that no hiring processes begin until a student advisory board had been created.
The group also wanted Holmes to sign the agreement to ensure that no changes would happen during the upcoming Thanksgiving and winter school breaks. Without the freeze, the group feels that there is no assurance that space for students of color would be retained and positions in OMAS could be changed over winter break.
After being presented with a letter of demands, Holmes did not sign the agreement but agreed to it verbally.
University student Rina Sundahl@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Rina+Sundahl@@ said the meeting was necessary so that the group could have a formal agreement that the transition of OMAS to CMAE would be frozen.
“We wanted to get it down on paper so that we could refer back to it,” Sundahl said.