Milwaukee Area Technical College is facing heat once again for its decision to close its multicultural center this summer.
This week, a coalition of 15 religious, cultural and labor leaders sent a letter to MATC demanding that the college bring back the four staff members who lost their jobs.
The staff MATC terminated were advisors for African American, Latino, Asian, and Native American students. MATC said in August that it made this decision to comply with a letter from the Department of Education.
The letter threatened that “colleges and universities could face investigation and loss of federal funding if they employ race-conscious practices in hiring, promotion, compensation” and other areas.
Trust and relationships between MATC, communities of color broken, pastor says
Students say MATC’s multicultural center was once a special place for them to get advice and support from staff who looked like them. It was especially helpful for first-generation college students trying to make their way in the world of higher ed.
Now the center’s doors are closed. Literally.
Pastor Walter Lanier of Milwaukee’s Progressive Baptist Church used to lead the multicultural center at MATC. He was there for four years, ending in 2019. Lanier signed onto the letter this week calling on MATC to restore the four jobs in its multicultural center.
He says that trust in MATC has been irrevocably broken.
"That’s how it is in communities of color," Lanier says. "You build up trust, you build up relationships. You build up goodwill over time. And this is like taking it and breaking the glass on the floor.”
He calls the loss of the center "profoundly tragic" for future generations of MATC students.
Labor leader concerned that MATC 'obeyed in advance' with multicultural cuts
Pam Fendt, the President of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, said she immediately saw red flags when she heard the news of the closing of the center this summer.
“I sort of felt like, ‘Oh we’re obeying in advance here,'" she says of the college's move to summarily shut down the entire center. She argues that the college could have asked more questions to ensure it was on solid legal ground.
Fendt signed onto the letter calling on the college to rehire the four staffers. She wonders whether the Trump Administration’s pressure on colleges is even legal.
“We’re probably going to find out by a lawsuit some number of months or years from now whether this was legal or not for them to apply the pressure this way," she says of the Trump administration.
At the time of the cuts, MATC said it would move the four employees into other areas in the college. Fendt likened removing the advisors and closing the center to an “all lives matter” approach – that is, providing no specific or culturally informed support to students.
Coalition plans to pack MATCH board meeting Oct. 28
More than 60% of students at MATC are students of color and the college’s own website advertises MATC as “one of the most diverse colleges in the Midwest.”
The coalition of community groups plans to pack MATC’s board meeting Tuesday at 4 p.m. to share their concerns.
More than 100 students, staff and alumni attended the board’s meeting in August to share their disappointment and call for change. The board, including MATC President Dr. Anthony Cruz, did not respond to the speakers at that meeting.
MATC did not respond to a request for comment by WUWM for this story.
Katherine Kokal is the education reporter at 89.7 WUWM - Milwaukee's NPR. Have a question about schools or an education story idea? You can reach her at kokal@uwm.edu
