Eastern Washington University students and faculty have raised concerns for the potential elimination of the Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies major (GWSS).
Administration cites resource allocation and stewardship as the primary force behind it, while students and faculty disagree.
“In 2026, the empowering knowledge that is taught in GWSS classes is being systematically stripped from people, especially young people with marginalized identities,” Abby Jensen said, a student majoring in GWSS. “It is leaving us aimless and hopeless, with incredibly unsure futures. Having GWSS and other diversity programs is how EWU empowers its students to fight back, take hold of our futures and work towards building a better world. It’s devastating to think of an EWU that strips those opportunities away.”
Ryan Weldon, the Assistant Director of Career Development at EWU, said that he believes this decision is anything but neutral.
“What we choose to study, fund and protect tells students what and who we believe matters,” Weldon said. “Choosing to preserve programs oriented around the inanimate and the measurable while eliminating those that center human experience and dignity is a declaration of values.
“In a world where institutions have recently and repeatedly demonstrated they will protect the powerful at the expense of women and girls, eliminating the programs that develop exactly the critical capacity and situated knowledge to challenge those institutions is not a neutral budget decision.”
Nancy Benson, a Certified Peer Counselor and student at EWU, said that as a GWSS & Psychology major, she believes the administration has miscalculated humanities students’ understanding of policy.
“The Board of Trustees has made a grave tactical error: they assume humanities students don’t understand policy or budgeting,” they said. “Having just completed a Social Justice Social Policy course, I can tell you we see the injustice and inequity tied irrevocably to these decisions.
“The administration is using the ‘Polytechnic’ rebranding as a smoke screen to dismantle the heart of this university. …This isn’t a budget crisis; it’s a pilot test. ”
Sheila C. Woodward, the Director of Graduate Music Education at EWU, agrees that these students are aware and informed enough to influence policy.
“GWSS empowers marginalized individuals and communities to survive gender-based prejudice and violence, think critically, inform policy, and advance social justice in the field,” Woodward said.
Provost Lorenzo Smith, who proposed cutting the program, said that it had to do with resource allocation, as the program averages about 10 graduates per year, according to the faculty meeting held on May 11.
“I recognize the value in the GWSS curriculum,” he said. “[But] even at a 35,000-student university, if there’s a degree program that has one graduate per year, you kind of have to ask some questions. This is not a new concept at all. It is a conversation starter. […] It absolutely demands additional qualitative assessment, not unlike what you heard here.”
Provost Smith said that he encourages students to reach out to him with their concerns.
“I encourage students, please, yes, there’s great value in what you’re doing right here, raising visibility,” he said. “But please reach out also to people like me so I can hear from you directly, and we can have that exchange. So again, qualitative assessment on top of numbers is critical, it is essential.”
Students and faculty shared that the major goes hand-in-hand with other degrees.
“Students who major in GWSS often double-major and apply their new awareness of gender dynamics within their other field,” Beth Torgerson, a professor of English at EWU said. “It would be advantageous if EWU were to grow this major rather than discard it.”
An EWU student double-majoring in Disability Studies and Anthropology, Theo Monet, shares his perspective.
“What is happening to our GWSS program is not an isolated incident,” they said. “It is part of a larger trend of EWU deprioritizing humanities programs, dismantling systems and hubs of support and generally disregarding the importance of belonging, and support in academic settings. Faculty do not want this to happen. Students don’t want this to happen. The community does not want this to happen.”
Monet served on the DEI Student Advisory Board, which was discontinued in 2025.
“Decision-makers at EWU have been quietly making these decisions again and again,” he said. “What happened with our adaptive sports program being discontinued recently, our DEI department that they quietly dissolved in mid-2025, and the Chicana studies major. This is a pattern in their decisions, and it is not acceptable.”
Students are vocally organizing throughout campus, and encourage the broader public to get involved.
“So, here at EWU, many groups are organizing and trying to get the word out to not only save GWSS, but to break this pattern.” Monet said. “It is going to take more than us, but the broader community, to stop this runaway train of conservative, fascistic decisions that disregard the importance of these programs. It matters now more than ever.”
They raise concerns about the values of the university and cite the replacement of the stadium turf versus investing in and valuing humanity.
“It is a slap in the face to every student that EWU claims it cannot afford to tenure professors who actually show up for us while they find $12,000,000 to turn our ‘red turf’ green,” Nancy Benson said. “That turf was just replaced in 2020 – it was unnecessary. As a 38-year-old mother of 10, I can promise you that none of my children who want to follow me to EWU care about the color of the stadium turf.
“I know I am taking a risk speaking out,” she said. “I refuse to remain silent while they trade my and my children’s future for a stadium renovation. We are the future of Washington, and we demand a university that values humanity over optics.”
The Board of Trustees will make their final determination on June 25.
Students were clear in their voice, united in saying that the GWSS program was important to them, and many went so far as to call the program life-changing.
“The Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies program at EWU is a life-changing program.” Abby Jensen said. “The classes I’ve taken during my major have taught me information about myself and the world around me that shapes every interaction I have.“Being a GWSS major has given me the confidence and knowledge to be a leader in my communities, open myself to new experiences, and pursue my dreams.
“I entered college without a clear direction, and after one class, I felt more grounded in my community, in my beliefs, and in my understanding of the world.”
