On Thursday, May 22, 2025, Purdue University Fort Wayne laid off 45 employees, including 12 staff members from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices. As a result, our LGBTQIA+ Center, Women’s Center, and MultiCultural Center have been closed. While Trio Student Support Services remains operational, it is now staffed by only two individuals—an unsustainable situation for such a vital program.
These closures have significantly reduced access to essential resources for students. Generation Action has lost 40% of its menstrual product distribution sites and 67% of its sites for free sexual health supplies, including Plan B, condoms, and oral HIV tests. At a university where women make up 55% of the student population—and amid rising period poverty in the United States—these cuts are deeply concerning. They do not reflect a serious commitment to student health, safety, or equity.
The Chancellor’s office recently requested Every Campus A Refuge raise $1 million dollars to host a refugee family and to do critical work with refugees in Fort Wayne and our campus. Every Campus A Refuge has lost one of its biggest allies, the multi-cultural center because of these cuts. Most of our refugee students are first generation students and unfamiliar with the American Education System. Without Trio, they will be lost.
The administration has cited state-imposed budget cuts as the reason for these decisions. However, the process by which these cuts were carried out raises significant concerns. There was little to no transparency about which programs or staff would be affected, and no public dialogue about how the university might prioritize its values while addressing fiscal constraints. It’s hard not to question why critical student support infrastructure was reduced while top administrative salaries remain unchanged.
Purdue Fort Wayne has often spoken of the importance of community yet during these layoffs, the administration failed to uphold those values. I was shocked to hear that some employees were laid off while accompanying students on a university-sponsored trip to Puerto Rico. The presence of police during the layoffs, the lack of transparency, and the absence of basic human respect shown to long-serving employees— including those with over 40 years of service—are unacceptable.
The issue here is not just about budgets—it’s about priorities. It's about who is being asked to bear the burden of cuts, and why certain programs are deemed expendable while others remain untouched. There were other options—alternative budgets were proposed—that did not cut staff and could have preserved essential services and minimized harm. But the community was never invited into that conversation.
As former Student Body President McKayla Henry said: “Performative activism will just not do us justice—call local and state representatives, write letters, go outside and protest, BE the change you want to see.”
This is a painful time to be a Mastodon. But we cannot afford to let this moment pass without action. I urge our community, students, faculty, staff, alumni, and allies to raise its voice, hold our leadership accountable, and demand better for our students, faculty, and staff. Our institutions must reflect the values they claim to uphold.
