On the second floor of the student union at Florida Atlantic University, there was a room where Black, Latino and queer students could go to talk to dedicated staff if they needed help — or just hang out between classes.
“It was just a space where we could all come relax. Enjoy each other. Feel safe, really,” said sophomore Kenny Ruff, who’s studying journalism at FAU.
For Ruff, this place — the Center for Inclusion, Diversity Education, and Advocacy — was like a second home.
“We'd like beeline from getting food at a dining hall to coming up here,” Ruff recalled. “Talking for like an hour, an hour and a half. Doing homework. Falling asleep on couches. Doing absolutely everything just to enjoy the room.”
According to a state audit, the Center for IDEAs used to employ five full-time staff, with an annual budget of more than $400,000. The office hosted campus workshops for students and faculty, and shaped policies and procedures about how best to support people from historically marginalized backgrounds.
According to annual reports published by FAU’s Division of Student Affairs, the Center for IDEAs helped put on conferences that attracted hundreds of students. On average, 94% of students who attended the events told staff they felt their identities were accepted at FAU. And the university was expanding the center’s footprint.
But the center technically doesn’t exist any more.
“It's a grim reality,” Ruff said. “Not just for the LGBTQ+ community, but for basically every minority group that comes here.”
State laws prompt the closure of DEI programs
The Center for IDEAs was quietly closed down, like other similar programs at public colleges and universities across Florida. That’s due to a new state law and rules championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies that ban the use of public money on programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI, as part of an effort to combat what they call “woke” policies in education.
“This bill says the whole experiment with DEI is coming to an end in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said at a bill signing event in May 2023. “We are eliminating the DEI programs. We are going to treat people as individuals. We’re not going to treat people as members of groups.”
READ MORE: UF axes DEI office under GOP-led law aimed at ridding similar programs
The governor’s lean into culturally divisive issues came as he courted conservative voters in his unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
The changes in state law have forced universities to cut staff and close programs — unraveling efforts that advocates say promote access for people who face challenges because of their race, gender, disability or socioeconomic background.
In some cases, universities have reversed commitments they made to promote social justice in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, under pressure from the new laws and conservative activists.
At FAU, the school’s track record of social mobility and diversity have helped propel disadvantaged students into the middle class, which in turn has helped boost its national rankings. And that’s a selling point in the university’s promotional videos.
“FAU is one of the most ethnically and racially diverse universities in the nation. And prides itself on being a welcoming place for all students,” a narrator touts in a video posted on FAU’s Youtube channel.
A university spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment on the Center for IDEAs, or questions about how other campus programs have been affected by the DEI ban.
‘It reminds you of what the space used to be’
One morning in February, FAU senior and multimedia journalism student Mary Rasura showed a WLRN reporter around what used to be the Center of IDEAs.
That day, the door was open and the lights were on, but the space was quiet. The collection of board games and the coffee machine were untouched. The velvety red couch and the bean bag chair sat empty. In an office off the main lobby, an untidy jumble of boxes of t-shirts, banners, brochures, and the contents of someone’s desk were scattered across the floor.
“It kind of looks like under your bed. When you're cleaning your room and you just shove everything under your bed,” Rasura said. “It has that energy.”
In the center’s main room, a flurry of colorful posters still hung on the wall, celebrating various holidays and events like Juneteenth and Hispanic Heritage Month.
“That’s Malcolm X right there for Black History Month,” Rasura pointed out. “So it's just kind of interesting to just see this here. It's still here and it reminds you of what the space used to be. But there's not as much people here. And there's not the employees that used to work here.”
And on that day in February, the center’s metal sign was still hanging on the wall.
“There’s still a sign up here that says the FAU Center for Inclusion, Diversity Education, and Advocacy,” Rasura said. “I almost kind of want to put something above it that says, like, RIP.”
Rasura, who is bisexual, went to a couple of the center’s events over the years, including a training about how to come out at the workplace.
“It was years ago and I still remember it really clearly because it was impactful,” Rasura recalled. “So I think students are missing out on presentations like that. They're missing out on knowing that there's a person at the university that they could go to if they want to talk about issues affecting their identity.”
Geanny Joseph Ruiz used to work at the center, focusing on LGBTQ initiatives. Now she’s with the statewide advocacy group Equality Florida.
She’s worried that without the center, students in crisis may not get the help they need.
“I think their academic achievement is at risk … because they don't have a point person to go to who can connect the dots,” she said. “Making it so that they will have to … maybe drop out because they're facing homelessness or they're facing bullying or they are maybe in a classroom where they feel unsafe or unsupported or targeted.”
‘Bringing a community back to the space’
Even though the center’s staff are gone, the space is still there. And students have been putting it to use.
In the months since the center’s closure, a small team of student journalists have been working out of the old Center for IDEAs. And they’ve launched a new publication — an actual newspaper, with reported stories, reviews and color photo spreads, written for and by LGBTQ students, with the title in bold type at the top of the front page: “OUT FAU”.
Mary Rasura, the senior journalism student, is the executive editor.
“My goal, in starting this paper, is to try to bring a community back to the space,” Rasura said. “We have had staff meetings in here now. So just meeting here, talking about the paper.”
When WLRN went back to the center a month and a half later, the space was busy with activity as the staff of OutFAU munched on slices of pizza and pored over the latest edition.
The old staff offices have been turned into student work stations. One has been converted into a meditation room.
Kenny Ruff, who used to come to the center to crash on the couch with friends, now writes for the new paper. They thumbed through stories about campus events and student activism, and a profile of a retired queer studies professor, the pages rustling between their fingers.
“This front is about Palm Beach Pride that's happening in two weeks, and headlining is queer country singer Brooke Eden,” Ruff said.
OutFAU has given some students their first opportunity to see their byline in print, like history major Ximena Dipietro.
“It’s a unique experience,” she said with a smile. “It’s one thing putting together a zine. But to be published is … it’s a good feeling. It’s like an actual paper, yeah! With color! Oh my god.”
The paper launched with financial and editorial support from the local LGBTQ publication Out South Florida — so they’re not relying on university funding. (The new law banning the use of public funds on DEI programs has a carveout for student fees, allowing student-funded clubs and campus activities to continue).
And the student journalists have brought new life into the old Center for IDEAs. On a practical level, it’s a free space where they can gather and hash out stories. But Ruff says it’s symbolic as well.
“The process of coming up to this room was … let's reclaim it for what it was,” Ruff said. “The purpose it was originally slated for. To try to fight back, we fight back harder.
As Rasura put it in the paper’s very first issue, publishing OutFAU is itself “an act of defiance”.
“It is a form of resistance,” she told WLRN. “We're still here.”
“We have First Amendment rights. And we're gonna write about what's going on,” she said. “And I just am really excited and hopeful I can kind of bring life back into this. And connect with my fellow students. And create a space through this paper for us to express ourselves.”
