UW-Milwaukee plans to merge 8 cultural centers into 1 student hub

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Changes are coming to University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee as the university plans to merge eight cultural and resource centers into a single student hub.

The move would include the Women’s Resource Center; a space students use for support and community. 

UW-Milwaukee student Madison Gulmatico said the center played a major role in her transition to campus life.

“It changed my world being able to have this place when I moved here. It was a home,” she said.

Gulmatico said hearing about the consolidation was difficult, especially for students who rely on the centers.

“It was really devastating because these places mean so much to so many people,” she said.

She said she worries combining the centers could take away what makes each space meaningful.

“Combining it wouldn’t make us stronger it’s just diluting our individual services into something that doesn’t compare to what we have right now,” she said.

University leaders say the plan is focused on expanding access for students, not reducing services. 

Chia Vang, UW-Milwaukee’s vice chancellor for community empowerment and institutional inclusivity, said the university is trying to meet the needs of a growing and diverse student population.

“There is just not a possibility of creating separate centers for everybody,” she said. “What I’m excited about is the possibility of having many more students see themselves in that comprehensive new center.”

Vang also addressed concerns about staffing, saying employees will not lose their jobs during the transition.

“The fear is that people see what has happened in other places, that people are just closing down these offices and all DEI offices and firing people,” she said. “I want to say with confidence that we are not doing that at UWM.”

For Gulmatico, unanswered questions remain about the future of the physical spaces and the history inside them.

“Our center is 30 years old and all the stuff that’s around here that we’ve collected for 30 years, we don’t know what’s going to happen to it,” she said.

The university said it does not yet know what will happen to the current center spaces but said more details will be shared as the transition moves forward. The new student hub is expected to open in fall 2026.