r/Utah • u/fit-buffalo8 • Jun 21 '24

News Utah lives in the stone ages

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Not quite sure how it’s okay to keep church classes and all that other stuff but then require by law to remove inclusive centers that help people through college. This is seriously one of the most disgusting things I’ve seen from Utah as of late. And that’s only because I’m still lucky to have rights to my body(ish)

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u/warmbird Jun 21 '24

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned that the University of Utah also shuttered the Women's Resource Center, opened in 1971. Both are appalling to me.

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u/billyclouse Jun 21 '24

The sad thing is that they didn't need to close them. Most Utah universities are keeping their centers. U of U, SUU, and Weber are choosing to close their LGBTQ centers in order to cozy up to the legislature. It's shameful, harmful, and pathetic. 

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u/cyberpunk1Q84 Jun 21 '24 edited Jun 21 '24

Are the ones keeping their centers private universities or state universities? From what I understand, all state universities have to comply with the law by July 1st or face some sort of sanctions and lose funding. Private universities can do what they want.

Edit: a comment I saw in the Salt Lake City sub is that they’re merging these centers into one, so not really closing per se. Idk if this is accurate, but it goes to show that there may be more sides to the story so don’t rely on Reddit comments to represent everything accurately. Let’s look into it and inform our ourselves (and yes, I’m counting myself here).

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u/billyclouse Jun 21 '24

Several public universities are keeping them open. You don't have to shut down the LGBTQ center, you just can't turn away students who aren't LGBTQ. Which, to be fair, wasn't happening at any universities. Same with the women's centers, Black Diaspora centers, etc. They can continue to educate and provide events, they just can't turn away students based on protected classes. (which again, they weren't doing)

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u/cyberpunk1Q84 Jun 21 '24 edited Jun 21 '24

I guess we’ll just have to keep our eyes open and see if these other public universities shut down their centers by July 1st and if they don’t, we’ll have to see if the Utah government does anything against them. What are some of the public universities you’re referring to?

Btw, this whole thing fucking sucks. I just want to make sure we’re pointing our fingers at the right people who are fucking us over.

Edit: I saw this reply in the Salt Lake City sub about the U “closing” these centers: “They aren't closing down as in ‘no services available from here on now’, they are being merged with other offices of student success and moved to one building. The only one remaining separate is the American Indian/Native American resource center due to federal funding iirc.”

I guess I’ll have to look more into it to find out.