This is a developing story; check back with The Spectator for updates.

For more than three weeks, speculations have circled around campus regarding the future of the Center for Restorative Practices and the employment status of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) program directors Catherine Emmanuelle and Chris Jorgenson. UW-Eau Claire Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Gregg Heinselman broke the silence last week, confirming the center will close at the end of October.

In an Oct. 8 interview with The Spectator, Heinselman also confirmed the layoff of Emmanuelle, the director of the Center for Restorative Practices.

Emmanuelle has served in the department since 2022 and as an at-large member of the Eau Claire City Council for nearly a decade. In the five years leading up to her employment at UW-Eau Claire, she worked as Area Extension Director for the UW-Madison Division of Extension, with the Extension in Chippewa, Dunn, and Eau Claire counties.

Heinselman clarified that while Jorgenson’s appointment as Interim Executive Director of Diversity, Inclusion & Leadership has ended, he has now been offered his former position as director of the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC). Jorgenson is not associated with the Center for Restorative Practices, Heinselman said.

Jorgenson, who has worked at the university for more than a decade, received the 2024 Chippewa Valley Vanguard Award for his work in diversity, inclusion and leadership. During his time at UW-Eau Claire, Jorgenson worked alongside students and founded and organized campus events such as Q-Fest and The Fireball.

The Spectator staff reached out to Emmanuelle and Jorgenson ahead of writing this story, but both declined to be interviewed.

In a Sept. 19 email shared with The Spectator by Peter Hart-Brinson, president of United Faculty and Academic Staff and former member of the Center for Restorative Practices advisory committee Emmanuelle notified some colleagues of these changes. 

The changes come following pressure by the Republican-led Wisconsin Assembly to reduce the number of EDI-related positions on University of Wisconsin campuses. 

Based on an agreement made with the Joint Finance Committee following the release of the 2023-25 Biennial Budget, the Universities of Wisconsin had the opportunity to give pay raises to its 34,000 employees and build a new $347 million engineering building in Madison. This allowance was contingent on the universities freezing EDI staffing through 2026 and eliminating or refocusing about 40 positions focused on diversity.

Hart-Brinson said some faculty and staff members fear that the recent changes within the university were a result of that pressure.

In an Oct. 13 interview with The Spectator staff, Interim Chancellor Michael Carney said this was not the case, as he believes the university had fulfilled what was asked by the Joint Finance Committee prior to these recent changes.

“As far as I’m aware, we have met the expectations of the Joint Finance Committee in terms of the reforms that they have asked us to make from that last budget cycle and in terms of the number of positions related to (EDI),” Carney said.

UW-Eau Claire staff, students, and faculty were notified via email from Heinselman’s office on Oct. 8 that there had been no disruption to services or support offered by the GSRC as a result of these changes.

“The offices remain open; staff and leaders are engaged and continue to be available as resources for students,” the email read, in reference to the Multicultural Student Services (MSS) and the GSRC.

The message, which was released about three weeks after Jorgenson and Emmanuelle were notified of the changes, did not mention the Center for Restorative Practices or name any employees. 

“In accordance with our standard process for concluding interim appointments, those leaders impacted by the restructuring of the division have been given the opportunity to return to the full-time positions in the (GSRC) they held prior to their limited-term interim roles,” the email read. 

Both Carney and Heinselman said the layoff of Emmanuelle was a completely separate situation from that of staff members within the GSRC.

Carney told The Spectator news team that although two interim staff members from the GSRC have been given the opportunity to return to their previous roles, the standard procedure for this transition was not followed.

“We did not follow our normal process to offer those folks an opportunity to go back to their full time job that they had before they took the interim appointment,” Carney said. “We didn’t communicate that properly.”

He said that the employees were not immediately offered a return after being notified that their interim positions had ended. He estimated that it was roughly one-to-two weeks ago when the two individuals received their contract letters with these offers.

In his role as Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, Heinselman said what he’s seen over the past three years led to the decision to shift the structure of these departments.

He said that the goal of restructuring university staff and programs is to increase and encourage more direct contact with students. One example he gave involved using a “case manager” model, rather than the previous “administrative” structure.

“We feel like that will be a better model to have more direct staff and more direct contact with students than an administrative structure that added interim executive directors and directors, and put more of those resources into coordinators and case managers, because that’s what we’re seeing the need for,” Heinselman said. 

After learning of the recent changes within the university, fourth-year social work student and Q-Fest intern Max Davis launched an online petition titled “We Stand With Chris,” which garnered more than 2,147 signatures as of Oct. 13.

The petition highlighted Jorgenson’s work with the GSRC, including founding and organizing campus events. In a subsequent interview, Davis said they value the work Chris put into these projects and the support he’s shown for students.

“Chris as a person is just such a phenomenon of how much he’s created and how much he can do,” Davis said. “He just has such a knack for making these programs and supporting students in such a way.”

Davis said they were glad to see the community-wide reactions in the comments of the petition.

“There’s community members, there’s current students, there’s staff, there’s alumni,” Davis said. “It’s just so many different people, and so many people saying that they’re going to take action of not donating to the university until this gets fixed, or just expressing devastation that these programs are no longer going to be happening.”

In the petition’s comment section, alumnus Jennifer Han said she plans to withhold donations because of the administrative changes.

“UWEC should be a leader in diversity and inclusion, and this elimination is a shameful decision. I cannot in good conscience continue to donate to my alma mater if they will not support ALL students,” Han wrote. 

Hart-Brinson said he was concerned by the lack of information that has been provided to staff, students and faculty.

“I think the climate of fear is very real,” Hart-Brinson said. “People feel really demoralized, and they’re worried that it’s not going to be too long before the targeting of diversity, equity and inclusion outside of the classroom is going to trickle into the classroom.”

Heinselman said there are a variety of policy changes the university is being asked to look into, and it is a challenging time in public higher education.

“We don’t operate independently as a campus — we’d like to some days — but we’re part of a system, and we have to align with that,” Heinselman said.

The Spectator will continue to follow this developing story.

Wojahn can be reached at [email protected].

Agbara can be reached at [email protected]. 

Sherry can be reached at [email protected].