Chants of “Bring Back Lupe!” filled Sproul Plaza on Wednesday as nearly 100 students rallied to condemn UC Berkeley’s suspension of Lupe Gallegos-Diaz, who directed campus’s Chicanx Latinx Student Development office.
Gallegos-Diaz was abruptly placed on leave in August for a “lack of professional judgement” — sparking outrage and frustration for students and community members who have known Gallegos-Diaz as a pillar of campus’s Latine community for almost 30 years.
Students hoisted signs that read “Reinstate Lupe” and “Lucha 4 Lupe,” Spanish for “fight for Lupe,” as organizers gave speeches in front of Sproul Hall demanding accountability from campus.
“Lupe is a pillar of this campus, an alumna, lecturer, co-founder, and director and has built a home for generations of Latina students,” said Selina Mendez, ASUC external affairs vice president, at the rally. “She gives us institutional knowledge, teaches our history and teaches us how to organize and that frightens an administration that prefers a quiet, compliant student body. We cannot afford to stay quiet while they chip away our community piece by piece.”
During the rally, demonstrators marched to California Hall, which houses the chancellor’s office. Students called out administrators and UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons for their lack of transparency.
Campus spokesperson Janet Gilmore told The Daily Californian that campus cannot comment on personnel matters due to confidentiality under university policy, but is “committed to Latinx community and the Chicanx Latinx Student Development (CLSD) office and the important work it provides to our students.”
Midway through student speeches in front of California Hall, the hall’s window — which had previously been open — was closed, igniting boos from the crowd.
Elizabeth Peña, an intern for CLSD and co-organizer of the demonstration, said she wanted to organize the demonstration to keep the movement for Lupe alive and hold administrators accountable in face of the lack of communication from campus.
“We (needed) to do something because this can’t be just an initiative that (we) did in the beginning of semester and then slowly died off,” Peña said. “For them to make this big decision is basically a slap in our face — this big decision to cut off our main staff person, our main advocate, our main supporter and a core pillar of the Latine community is just absurd.”
Emma Enríquez, an administrative assistant for the CLSD office and ASUC senator, says she’s been “appalled” by the lack of communication from administration regarding Lupe’s suspension.
“Administration just really doesn’t (respect) students themselves who are facing these hardships. It’s just incredibly ridiculous to see the lack of communication they’ve also provided,” Enríquez said. “Being a senator and having a role where my community felt that I could represent them through the Latine endorsement, and now even I can’t get any response out of administration. It’s just really ridiculous right now.”
According to Enríquez, the only communication from Lyons came through an email sent to a select few individuals and community groups Sept. 11. In his email, Lyons noted that while administration couldn’t legally discuss any “personnel matters,” they were “committed” to the Latine community and CLSD office.
The message included a list of public updates about CLSD, confirming that a leadership seminar Gallegos-Diaz taught was canceled and an alumni networking event has been paused.
Enríquez said the message felt like “a slap in the face.”
“There’s absolutely no mention of what students have been asking for, which is just administration to acknowledge the fact that Lupe is not in her position currently and that she is on administrative leave,” Enríquez said. “It really just says everything that we already know, which just feels like they are just riding on this high horse, and they really just don’t want to acknowledge what students are feeling whatsoever.”
She argued administration has not given clear answers on how they are supporting CLSD staff and interns, who are taking on Gallegos-Diaz’s former responsibilities, or if the Ethnic Studies department will bring in a new faculty member.
Gilmore did not give specific details regarding how campus is working to make up for the loss of canceled and suspended programs.
Students with the Latiné Caucus met with administrators last week, who assured them that “vacancies happen all the time” and that Lyons didn’t want to make it a “constant factor to meet with students,” according to Latiné Caucus student leaders.
Jewlz Anahuac, who attended the protest, arrived to campus as a transfer student last month, excited to come to UC Berkeley as a Chicana. But when she got the news that Gallegos-Diaz had been suspended, it felt like her community was “completely disregarded and swept under the rug.”
“It feels dehumanizing to have to keep demanding that we be heard and to prove that we matter,” Anahuac said. “Just the action of us having to prove that we matter to our university makes me feel dehumanized … it feels really unfair that people were just able to pass by (the protest) because they’re not affected by it.”
Still, Anahuac — clad in orange in honor of Orange Shirt Day, a day of memorial to honor Native children who survived the residential school system — emphasized the importance of speaking up and fighting back as a community.
“I truly believe that them putting Lupe on a leave is an absolute form of oppression on us students of color. I truly believe they’re oppressing us, and I believe this is the same pattern America has had within many universities, and that it’s unacceptable,” Anahuac said. “Us students of today, with the heart and courage and willingness to speak out, will not tolerate it, and we will not stop until our demands are met.”