PATH to Care prevention staff let go as campus carries out program overhaul | Campus

Prevention services offered through the PATH to Care Center are moving out of UC Berkeley’s Division of Equity and Inclusion.

The center’s reporting line and Peer Education Program will move to the Division of Student Affairs’ Health and Wellbeing organization, which was first announced in July 2023. Health and Wellbeing aims to combine medical, recreation and wellbeing services.

According to a statement from the campus Division of Equity and Inclusion, the decision was made to provide the campus community with the “full continuum of comprehensive programs and resources.”

During this transition, administrators also laid off two senior members of the center’s prevention team, which manages programs aimed at preventing sexual violence, intimate partner violence, sexual harassment and stalking.

Associate Director of Prevention Melissa Kwon and Prevention Manager Liat Wexler were the last remaining professional staff members on the team.

“We remain committed to supporting survivors of sexual violence and sexual harassment (SVSH) and preventing SVSH for our campus community,” the Divison of Equity and Inclusion said in its statement.

While officials have said the Peer Education Program will continue, some student volunteers say years of ongoing cuts and reductions to the center’s services have left them feeling unsupported.

A student peer educator at the center, who was granted anonymity due to fear of retaliation, said the program has offered fewer prevention workshops across campus this year compared to past years.

The Peer Education Program, under direct supervision of professional staff on the prevention team, sends students to Greek Life houses, athletic teams, residential communities and other student organizations to hold workshops on sexual violence and harassment prevention.

In July 2024, the center began overall staff reductions lasting into fall 2024 that slashed appointment availability by 54%.

The following year, the center discontinued its 24/7 survivor hotline due to limited staffing capacity and the loss of a “key community partner resource,” according to prior comments made in October 2025 by Elisa Huerta, the associate vice chancellor of community engagement and transformative care.

While the student peer educator is working with administrators during the transition, they said they feel uncertain about the future of the program given recent layoffs.

“If (administrators) still value the PATH to Care Center, they’re not showing it,” the student said. “I’m feeling very angry about this whole situation, because this decision definitely affects the Path to Care Center and the Peer Education Team, but it really affects the campus as a whole.

Officials say PATH to Care will continue to “provide confidential advocacy and support services without interruption.”

The center’s scheduled programming transitions will begin July 1.