A block party against the consolidation of the eight multicultural centers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was on Thursday, April 30, in the UWM Union Concourse.
The Student Identity Preservation Coalition (SIP) and Planned Parenthood Generation Action at UWM orchestrated the event.
SIP is a student-led group of individuals with the mission of preventing the consolidation of the identity spaces at UWM.
Representatives of SIP say that the decision to consolidate the centers was made in Spring 2025, before informing the UWM community in January 2026.
Therefore, the decision-making process and proposal happened without the direct involvement of students, which SIP says violates Wisconsin Statute 36.09(5). This established that students in the UW-System must have primary responsibility for advising the chancellor’s office on policies regarding student life and interests.
Speakers
Select speakers voiced their problems with the consolidation, and more than a dozen student organizations also tabled at the event.
The UWM Post was one of the student organizations that tabled at this event.
Other student organizations who supported by tabling:
- Planned Parenthood Generation Action Club
- Puerto Rican Student Union
- Sociology Conversation Club
- Mosaic Mentors
- National Society of Black Engineers
- Digital Arts and Culture Club
- Social Work Club
- UWM College Dems
- Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee
Sierra Lee, a member of the student government at UWM, was the MC for the event.
Lexy Lunger, a current graduate student who also did their undergraduate degree at UWM, gave a passionate speech about the invaluable support they received from the centers.
Others present on stage at the block party included community members Neomy Aguilar and Isaiah Martin.
The headline speaker was Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong. Hong specified this appearance had nothing to do with her campaign for governor and spoke only as a Wisconsin State representative.
“Belonging and multiculturalism are inextricably linked, and it’s important that we recognize as elected officials, as administrators, that we cannot look at these centers as disposable,” said Hong to the UWM Post after her speech. “Rather that, we should be providing more resources and ensuring in a time where diversity, multiculturalism, inclusion is consistently being attacked at the local, state and federal level, these centers provide a space both of safety and resistance.”
Hong is regarded as the candidate who leans the furthest left.
Consolidation Plan
The university announced the plan to consolidate the eight cultural and resource centers in late January.
“UWM’s administration claims consolidation must happen because of low student retention rates, federal funding cuts, among other financial restraints. However, if the administration interfaced with students who use these spaces, they would realize investing further in multicultural centers and programs would strengthen – not weaken – their goals to improve our academic outcomes,” Brynna Fennie, a member of SIP and an organizer of the Save Our Centers Block Party, said.
The eight centers impacted by the proposal are:
- The Black Student Cultural Center
- First Generation+ Resource Center
- LGBTQ+ Resource Center
- Military and Veterans Resource Center
- Off-Campus Resource Center
- Roberto Hernandez Center
- Southeast Asian American Student Center
- Women’s Resource Center
“My peers and I, who regularly use these spaces, are more likely to walk across the aisle than those who do not, because we have villages of staff and student workers supporting us every step of the way. The decision to consolidate makes us feel like the support systems we rely on are irrelevant to UWM’s bottom line: maintaining profitability, rather than promoting diversity of thought, academic success, and cultural excellence,” Fennie said.
On April 2, 2026, it was announced that Alberto Maldonado, the current director of the Roberto Hernandez Center, would be UWM’s assistant vice chancellor for connection and achievement. Maldonado began the new position on April 6.
This new position was created to oversee the student centers, with recruitment that took place in February and March of 2026. Maldonado was heavily involved in the open forums held on campus, discussing the consolidation.
In a message to the UWM community, Student Affairs said, “Alberto has led the development of programs and initiatives designed to support college access, informed course selection and successful degree completion.”
According to a SIP press release, some staff employed at UWM, who choose to remain anonymous, have expressed concerns that private donations made to distinct multicultural centers could be jeopardized by a consolidation.
The private donations are investments made with the requirement that they are specifically allocated to uplift different cultural groups and students.