Alicia-Lynn Nascimento Castro, a Black woman and vital member of the Phoenix dance community, has lost her position in the Grand Canyon University dance department after experiencing discrimination, retaliation, and censorship at the hands of administration. As students, we are outraged by this news.

Alicia has been targeted for termination since her participation in a student-organized event in November. This event was organized by the president of GCU’s Student Dance Education Organization and Alicia, along with other faculty members, was asked by the event organizer to speak about racial tensions in America. Alicia shared with her personal experiences living as a Black woman in America and how current events have impacted her life. 

Alicia’s statements were recorded by an unknown attendee and forwarded to the president of the university, which is when administration’s campaign of retaliation against Alicia, ending in her termination, began.

Part of administration’s retaliation against Alicia was the escalating censorship of her dance piece, “What Freedom”. The dance depicts police brutality against Black people through movement and projected text that said “Every human should have the right to…” followed by some of the reasons Black people have been the targets of police violence including “sleep peacefully”, and “survive a traffic violation.”

On Thursday, December 10th, the Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Production told the director of the dance department that the projected text had to be removed from the piece. Although disappointed and angry, we agreed to perform the piece without the projector.

On Friday, December 11th, the opening night of our concert, we were told that an entire section of the dance where dancers fell to the ground to depict the loss of Black lives had to be removed as well. 

After hearing this news, the cast of the piece met to organize a peaceful protest where instead of performing the censored version of the dance, we stood on stage as the music played while holding signs that said what the projected text was going to say. It was the students decision to do this protest. Alicia had no prior knowledge about the protest.

Alicia should be rehired immediately. Because of her termination, many current undergraduates in the dance program are in the works of transferring to a new school. Alicia is an integral component of the GCU Dance Department, who is loved, appreciated, and valued by students. Losing her as a teacher hurts every single student in the dance department. 

Please sign this position to demand that Alicia be reinstated in the dance department and to hold GCU accountable for their discrimination and censorship of Black voices.