The University of New Haven promotes itself as a campus that welcomes people of all backgrounds, and diversity on campus among students has been on the rise. About half of the Class of 2028 – the second largest class in university history – are students of color, and more than a third of the students are international students.
The university is home to The Myatt Center for Diversity and Inclusion, which is intended to promote awareness and embracement of different cultures. In addition, the campus has 17 multi-cultural Resident Student Organizations (RSOs) on campus, which work with and are tied to the Myatt Center.
But even with the increased number of students of color, international students and the Myatt Center, some RSO leaders say the university is not doing enough to support them, nor is the school doing enough to make the campus welcoming toward the diverse student body.
Kimberly Martinez, a senior forensic science major and president of the Latin American Student Association (LASA), said, clubs aren’t always as well-funded as they need to be.
“Often the University relies on us a lot for the work that we do,” said Martinez. “And the impact we make in the way that especially when they broadcast the diversity they have or the big events that we put on or y’know we have a very accepting campus and there’s a lot of community that’s all stuff that we have to do, and they don’t give us resources such as money, or attending our events or any sort of publicity or – honestly – any thanks.
“At the end of the day,” she said, “a lot of the work we do goes unnoticed and uncelebrated.”
Sometimes, members of RSOs plan their largest events for months and even years. Martinez, for example, had been at the front planning the club’s trip to Yankee Stadium for nearly two years. The trip was in October. She said the university did not assist with planning it.
Additionally, for the upcoming 2025-26 academic year, almost every multicultural RSO was given a budget less than $20,000 which is far less than clubs are normally given. Only three multicultural RSOs were given a budget higher than $20,000, but for them, leaders say they’re still being awarded less than they normally receive. For example, PRIDE went from a budget of approximately $40,000 in the 2024-25 academic year, to only $16,157.58 in the 2025-26 academic year as said multiple board members of PRIDE.
Hillel was dropped from $238 to $140.10, said Hillel’s USGA Representative Amanda Mack, a freshman forensic science major.
After an error submitting a yearly budget through Charger Connection, the New Haven chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) did not receive a budget allocation despite having communicated frequently with the USGA budget committee as said the NAACP’s vice president Patch Bowen, a junior communications major. When asked about RSOs having budget concerns, Dean of Students Ophelia Rowe-Allen said, “The USGA Budget Committee reviews all yearly budget submissions based on criteria established and voted on by the USGA Legislature. They do not look at the type or category of the requestor. The Budget Committee reviewed every submitted budget three times in an effort to get to the overall budget amount.”
In short, CSELO provides the money, and USGA approves the budgets for RSOs.
Fatima Ascensio, a sophomore political science major and treasurer of Caribbean Student Association (CSA) and the New Haven NAACP also said the organizations would benefit from more support from the school.
“We need more representation in CSELO and we need more people that look like us to help us,” said Ascensio. “Because a lot of the time, we ask for money for stuff (events), they deny it because they don’t know what we’re doing or what we’re talking about.”
Ascensio said she would like to see the university hire more people of color at CSELO.
Support could come in ways besides funding, students say. Leaders of clubs such as PRIDE say they have invited administrators to big events such as PRIDE Bash which was held at the end of March, only for administrators not to show.
Other RSO leaders say there could be more transparency around resources that actually provide support, rather than simply serve as a marketing tool.
Aj Stack, a senior criminal justice major and the president of PRIDE said, “When you look at the syllabus’ for courses, they just say the Myatt Center exists. They don’t talk about what the Myatt Center does, they don’t talk about the populations they serve.”
On their social media pages, the university also has not promoted “Meet the Greeks” for the Multicultural Greek council, as well as other big events held by multicultural organizations.
There is also concern that campus tours explore Gerber Hall but not the Myatt Center, which is in Gerber, and RSO leaders say that certain events – such as Black and Latino Alumni Weekend or BLAW, an event that supports and brings back Black and Latino alumni to campus – aren’t promoted sufficiently.
Leo LeBlanc, a sophomore forensic science major and the executive assistant of PRIDE, said “There’s not enough voices on this campus for students to be heard anymore, and it hurts. It hurts the students that don’t feel heard, it hurts the students who have these dialogues every day that don’t know of their adequate resources.”
LeBlanc said that a progressive Pride flag was supposed to be painted in the Gerber-Bixler Quad during the 2023-24 academic year. While the funds for painting were passed by the USGA, the flag was never completed. Despite meeting with administration members about the passed bill and requesting monthly updates on the project, no information was shared by the administration, said LeBlanc. Similarly, for many semesters administrators have also proposed and discussed allotting and moving the Myatt Center to a larger building, according to multiple multicultural RSO’s, but no progress has been made.
