By Susanne.
June 27, 2025, marked the day Ohio Senate Bill 1 went into effect. This law is cynically framed as “higher education reform” while, in reality, it targets minorities and marginalized voices across the state. Cleveland State University wasted no time complying. In the immediate aftermath, at least three vital student centers were shuttered: the Women’s Center, the LGBT Center, and the Multicultural Center. These closures were not bureaucratic accidents. They were political decisions.
In an interview with Cleveland Starter, CSU President Laura Bloomberg commented on the legislation:
“I was not a huge supporter of Senate Bill 83, the precursor to SB1. I will also say that I do believe that in many places, we, being Higher Ed. broadly, not necessarily CSU, have constrained conservative voices in the classroom. I think that when we allow all voices to be heard, we create discomfort in the classroom. And so people will say, ‘This doesn’t feel like a safe space.’ Well, if people disagreeing with you is creating a lack of safety, then we need to create a different kind of understanding of what debate is. We can always get better at that. And as humans, we can get better at that, or we wouldn’t have so many estranged families right now in this political climate.”
This statement reveals a profound misunderstanding, if not willful dismissal of what safety means to marginalized students. Discomfort caused by intellectual disagreement is not the same as fear rooted in real-world violence, discrimination, and exclusion. Equating the two trivializes the lived experiences of women, queer people, immigrants, and students of color.
On a national level, immigration enforcement agencies operating in increasingly militarized ways are actively targeting ethnic minorities. College campuses are not immune to these threats. In that same interview, President Bloomberg added:
“I think it’s also just the honest thing to say – I can’t guarantee everybody’s safety. You can’t. We can’t. We can do our best to support each other and to create the safest environment possible, but that is not a guarantee of safety.”
This refusal to commit to protecting vulnerable students, paired with the closure of the very centers designed to support them speaks volumes.
By shutting down the Women’s and LGBT Centers, CSU administration demonstrates a deep and dangerous misunderstanding of the challenges marginalized communities face, both inside and outside academic institutions. It’s mind-boggling that Bloomberg as a woman could say the things she’s saying. Women have fought for centuries to secure the rights and freedoms they currently hold, and that struggle is far from complete. Anyone can see. Gender disparities persist in science and technology. Economic inequality across gender and racial lines is still reality in our society. Racial segregation and prejudice remain deeply entrenched. The fight for equality is ongoing and Senate Bill 1, along with the public institutions that enable it, pushes society backward.
History teaches us this lesson clearly: when institutions show even the slightest sympathy toward oppressive forces, the oppressors begin dismantling the hard-won freedoms of the oppressed. CSU is no longer an ally to us, but an enabler for the oppressor.
The closure of the Multicultural Center and the administration’s unwillingness to guarantee safety for international students further cements CSU’s alignment with the wrong side of history. Public institutions have a responsibility to defend progressive values and hard-won freedoms, especially during periods of political regression. When they fail to do so, they betray the public they claim to serve.
And this pattern of betrayal is even deeper after the recent closure of the radio program on 89.3FM. Three months ago, CSU colluded with Cleveland public media group Ideastream to dismantle student-run programming in favor of a corporately funded, full-time jazz station called JazzNEO. Jazz, when performed authentically, is a living art form born from the struggle and resilience of enslaved Black Americans. When stripped from its community roots and repackaged as a corporate product, it becomes sterile, faceless, disconnected from its roots and from the fresh local scene.
Student-run WCSB was the opposite. It was a vibrant, accessible platform where local artists could be heard without publicists or corporate gatekeepers. It was also a critical space for queer voices. Many of its programmers and staffers were queer, including General Manager Alison Bomgardner, who openly identifies as a transgender woman and a lesbian. WCSB was not merely a radio station. It was a lifeline for gender-nonconforming voices in turbulent times. Now, it is gone. At least for now.
We haven’t only lost WCSB. We’ve also lost trust in Ideastream. If Ideastream can blatantly participate in this takeover, how can we trust them with anything they say?
Being heard is essential to a healthy, dignified life. That is why we strongly oppose the current CSU administration and we follow the activities aiming to restore the closed student centers and student radio programming.
As immigrants are forcibly removed from our society, it is naïve to believe other marginalized groups will remain untouched. History shows us that repression never stops with its first target.
If we are alone in this struggle, so be it. Our resistance is our existence. And we will win.