Heritage and culture foster unique experiences that shape how each person understands the world, especially during their time at SUU. For learners coming from minority backgrounds, a shared college campus may not be enough to promote a sense of belonging and acceptance in Cedar City.
With 90% of Utahns and 80% of SUU’s student population being white, students of other races may feel like outsiders to the experiences of their peers. Likewise, only a small percentage of students make up SUU’s LGBTQIA+ community. There are two centers on campus that aim to help these students feel more connected to each other and to their identity: the Center for Diversity and Inclusion and the Q Center.
The CDI supports minority students and the Q Center is aimed at helping LGBTQIA+ students and allies. Recent Utah legislation has threatened diversity centers like these at all state-funded universities.
House Bill 261, Equal Opportunity Initiatives, lists several “prohibited discriminatory practices” that will no longer be allowed in state-funded institutions. These include required diversity statements in hiring practices, mandatory diversity training and, most notably, overhauls of offices and employees directed at serving students according to “personal identity characteristics” such as “race, color, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, or gender identity.” These offices are to be replaced with or rebranded as offices directed at promoting success and support for all students.
The bill will affect the CDI and Q Center, but may not impact other student resources under the Office of Equity and Inclusion, which serves as an umbrella over these two centers as well as other organizations that aim to make SUU accessible and accepting of everyone. Some of these include International Student and Scholar Services, Non-Traditional Student Services and the Veterans Resource and Support Center.
The CDI and Q Center have radically benefitted many minority students on campus, including Hector Cedillo-Tellez. He has been involved in the CDI since he came to SUU and now serves as the president of the Latine Student Alliance while also sitting on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. He was also one of the first paid student fellows for the Q Center during its first year.
Both of these centers allowed Cedillo-Tellez to ask questions about parts of his identity that he had not had the chance to explore until he came to the university. He became a part of the T-Bird family in 2019, but he didn’t get involved in the CDI until after the COVID-19 pandemic gave him and many other students a need for a sense of community.
“The CDI has always been that place of connection,” Cedillo-Tellez said. “I remember when COVID happened, when I wasn’t even part of the executive council, that was my place to go to when I was having hardships, dealing with family relationships or just identity questions as well. I was able to find a lot of peer mentors from other clubs, like the Pride and Equality Club, the Native American Student Association — they provided insight that really helped me blossom into the person I am today.”
With the supportive environment of other students in the CDI, not only did Cedillo-Tellez find a family within the LSA but with members of the other diversity clubs as well. The center houses student clubs like the LSA, Black Student Union and Native American Student Association that “facilitate opportunities to mingle, serve, succeed in the classroom and celebrate culture,” according to their website. They, like any campus office, aim to support students in whatever way they can, connecting students to the resources that SUU offers.
The Q Center opened opposite the CDI in the fall of 2023 in the former University Journal office. Prior to their move, the office was obscured down a hallway in Room 120 of the Sharwan Smith Student Center, where the Hope Pantry currently resides. “That was the thing that we were concerned about: it felt students were hidden,” Cedillo-Tellez said.
They house the Pride and Equality Club and an all-gender restroom, and they serve as a safe space for members of the LGBTQIA+ community on campus. Like the CDI, which they call their “sister center,” they have resources available to all students curious about gender, sexuality or allyship. “With the Q Center, recently I’ve been able to have gender-based or sexuality-based discussions that I never thought I’d been able to really have out loud,” Cedillo-Tellez said.
As a fellow, Cedillo-Tellez helped organize events and prepare for the soft launch of the center and its new staff. However, the announcement of the proposed spring 2023 commencement speaker Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sparked controversy due to Holland’s remarks in a 2021 speech where he called for metaphorical “musket fire” to defend LDS church doctrine, including it’s views about same-sex marriage.
Holland’s nomination and a series of hate crimes directed at LGBTQIA+ staff members sparked Cedillo-Tellez and his fellow staff to push forward the center’s launch in order to provide a space for frustrated students to come and find support. He was also part of a group of students who led sit-in and walk-out protests and organized a Stop Queer Hate Instagram account in the spring of 2023.
Having a dedicated space for these diversity centers ensures that students like Cedillo-Tellez feel welcomed on campus, even in the face of challenges that make some students feel like they aren’t included or represented. Paige Iverson, president of the Black Student Union and director of the DEI Council, pointed out that inclusion was not always and sometimes still isn’t a reality.
“It is important that we acknowledge that the institution of higher education was not designed for people of color,” Iverson said. “By promoting diversity on a college campus, we are able to see ourselves in a light that was never meant to be. We deserve to be here, but we know that. What we need now is to know that our campus believes the same thing. Having support, visibility and representation is really powerful.”
Resources for all students are important, but specific groups have specific needs. Just as Non-Traditional Student Services aids students who may have unique circumstances, diversity is a unique circumstance in Utah.
“In these spaces, students feel seen: the bare minimum. We feel safe: the bare minimum. We feel heard: the bare minimum. These spaces allow us to breathe without having to think about our every move. They have become a sanctuary for us, and unfortunately, that is something we need here,” Iverson said.
Through the DEI Council and within her club, Iverson hopes to create communities based on support and understanding that often comes from the experiences shared by people of certain minority groups. “We spend a lot of time together, and we become each other’s chosen families. We are able to come together through an understanding of shared experiences. Some of us have not always grown up in culturally diverse environments, so it is nice to relate and learn from each other’s experiences,” Iverson said.
Visibility for these spaces is a priority for Arianna Marroquin. As the former president of the LSA, she now acts as the Southern Utah University Student Association’s vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, a relatively new position to the SUUSA Executive Council. Prior to choosing SUU, she lived in Las Vegas.
“Especially the area where I went to school, it was people who looked like me,” Marroquin said. “There was no question about my culture or my identity.”
Because of the culture shock of moving to a small, majority-white town like Cedar City, Marroquin looked for places where she could connect with people who understood that transition. “I think from the moment I got here, family and creating a safe space and finding a safe space where I belong — it really just started in the CDI.”
Since being appointed to her position, Marroquin has helped promote equity on campus as well as collaboration within the student cultural clubs and between student resources under the Office of Equity and Inclusion. Another of her endeavors has been improving visibility for these resources.
So far this year, the diversity clubs have hosted various events to further this mission. The Pride and Equality Club arranged chalk events where students wrote words of affirmation on the pathways around campus. The Latine Student Alliance hosted a tamale sale to raise money for their club, and the Pacific Islander Student Association put on their Polynesian Showcase, a three-day event where club members share their cultural history and traditions through live performances.
Even for students who are not members of the clubs, these events promote cultural awareness and add to SUU’s campus life.
Diversity initiatives have helped students have spaces to connect with peers who might otherwise feel alone at SUU, which is the goal of all the centers under the Office of Equity and Inclusion. Each, including the CDI and Q Center, gives a space for community, resources and dedicated staff who will advocate for and help students with their individual needs.
While these resources currently benefit students, they could be forced to alter the support they are able to provide due to the passage of H.B. 261. Although at the time of this article’s publication it is unclear how SUU will respond to the bills or what will happen to diversity programs on campus, students and staff who are involved in these organizations are committed to celebrating the cultures of everyone at SUU as long as they can.
Author: Lily Brunson
Feature photo courtesy of The Q Center
Editor: Kale Nelson
eic@suunews.net
This article was originally published in the Spring 2024 edition of the University Journal.