To the Administration of Cleveland State University,

We, the students of Cleveland State University, are writing to express our anger and profound disappointment in your recent announcement regarding the removal of the Women’s Center, the Office of Multicultural Engagement, and LGBTQ Student Services in response to Senate Bill 1.

In your email to the campus community, you wrote:

“For many years, Cleveland State University has been a vital community hub, a source of support and a place of belonging for all our students. We continue to honor this legacy and our commitment to meeting the needs of every student…”

Yet your actions prove otherwise. The Women’s Center, the DEI Office, and LGBTQ Student Services were not simply “programs.” They were lifelines for students who often had nowhere else to turn. Survivors of violence found advocates at the Women’s Center. Students of color found mentors and community in the Office of Multicultural Engagement. LGBTQ students found safety and affirmation in Student Services. These were not abstract “resources”—they were spaces that kept students afloat when the rest of the world, and sometimes even this campus, made them feel invisible or unsafe. Their loss is devastating and irreplaceable.

You further stated:

“Cleveland State complies with Ohio SB1. In reviewing our programs for compliance with SB1, we also determined that our delivery of resources and services to our students could be reimagined and enhanced.”

We reject this framing. Compliance does not require erasing lifelines. What you call “reimagining” looks to us like stripping away the very support systems that marginalized students depended on, and replacing them with generalized services that cannot meet those unique needs. Tutoring is not a lifeline. A safety ambassador is not a lifeline. Only offices dedicated to women, students of color, and LGBTQ students could provide the specialized care, resources, and advocacy that kept so many of us here, and kept us alive.

Your email lists new initiatives such as Academic Coaching, the Student Resource Center, and Viking Safety Ambassadors. While these programs may be valuable in their own right, none of them fill the void left behind by dismantling identity-based offices. A counseling appointment is not the same as finding a safe, identity-affirming community space. Leadership training is not the same as having an advocate who understands the specific struggles of marginalized students. You are not “enhancing” services, you are erasing lifelines and replacing them with bureaucracy.

Finally, you wrote:

“We will continue to welcome every student to our campus, and meet the needs of our students and campus community through a range of comprehensive services, supports, programs and resources…”

Welcoming “every student” in words means nothing when your policies exclude us in practice. A campus cannot be inclusive if it refuses to recognize that some students need more than generic support—they need safe spaces, advocates, and communities that understand their struggles. Without them, CSU is not just less welcoming—it is less safe.

We demand the following:

Transparency: A full and public explanation of why these offices were chosen for elimination, including who was consulted in this decision.

Accountability: Clear evidence of how CSU intends to meet the unique needs of women, LGBTQ students, and students of color now that their lifelines have been cut.

Advocacy: A commitment to challenge harmful legislation like SB1, rather than using it as an excuse to dismantle equity initiatives.

We are angry because we love this university and expect it to live up to its stated values. Right now, CSU is failing us. The offices you have taken away were lifelines, and without them, you are abandoning the very students you claim to support. We will not be silent while you erase the communities that made this campus a place of true belonging.

Do better.

Sincerely,
 The Students of Cleveland State University