When Will Atkins was chosen as the new executive director of Multicultural and Diversity Affairs, he acknowledged work needed to be done.
Following the resignation of three directors and concerns from students about being respected in the space, Atkins said he was looking forward to meeting with students and helping them feel like they belong, according to Alligator archives.
Less than a week after the new executive director of MCDA was appointed, multiple ambassadors sent in their resignation.
Ambassadors exist to support MCDA through customer service and administrative support with programming and advocacy, according to MCDA’s website. Several ambassadors, including those who resigned, are paid through work study, while some are volunteers.
The ambassadors from the Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs office gave nine reasons for their resignation, according to a copy of an email obtained by the Alligator.
In the email, they mentioned a “toxic environment,” “the way professional staff treat students in a condescending and disrespectful manner” and “the supposed support for students, but the support is truly absent.” They also said they “no longer believe that MCDA is a safe environment” for them to develop as professionals.
UF spokesperson Janine Sikes wrote in an email that “eight or nine” ambassadors resigned.
One resigned ambassador, who asked to remain anonymous for her mental health, said it was upsetting to resign from a program she dedicated countless hours for years.
“It’s just kind of sad to see, but I think a lot of it was for self-care,” she said.
When asked for a comment, other APIA ambassadors declined or could not be reached.
The former ambassador said she didn’t realize the magnitude of students’ frustration within APIA until the ambassadors came together to discuss their experiences.
Even after former APIA Director Krystie Nguyen resigned before accusations of mishandling her position and mistreating the ambassadors, the former ambassador said students overworked themselves in an attempt to keep up with their planned events.
The former ambassador also said the remaining MCDA staff wasn’t as attentive as the group needed, with several neglecting to check in to see how the students were doing.
“I think we needed the physical and emotional support,” she said. “Coming in to check on students is, well, what I would assume is the basic foundation of work in student affairs.”
She said the final straw for many of the ambassadors came when only one representative from APIA was appointed to the APIA Hall of Fame, when in the past she said there have been multiple appointments. She said they asked about the low number but felt the answers they received weren’t enough to address their concern.
“When we reached out and asked for what was going on, we got multiple answers from different people,” she said. “It just seemed really weird and like all of the decisions were made for us.”
The ambassadors asked each other how they were feeling, which lead to the resignations. They drafted one cohesive letter with their shared concerns.
In an emailed reply to the resigning ambassadors, obtained through a public records request, David Parrott, UF’s vice president for student affairs, said he and UF President Kent Fuchs appreciated the carefully outlined concerns.
The former ambassador said the letter sounded generic.
“We are in the process of enhancing many facets of MCDA and the Ambassador program,” Parrott wrote in an email obtained by the Alligator. “Your feedback helps to inform us moving forward.”
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Atkins said he looks forward to the future of the office. He said he’s met with current MCDA ambassadors to discuss how to reshape the roles of ambassador and has seen passion in the new director search committees.
“I want to hear from the students,” Atkins said. “That is really going to inform how we move forward with MCDA and with the ambassador program. It would be wise for me to make sure that what we’re crafting meets the needs of the students.”
Despite students saying they felt silenced in their resignation letters, Atkins said his policy has always been to listen to students.
“Ambassadors, staff, know that even when my door is closed, it’s open,” Atkins said. “The staff and my students are my first priority. They are definitely the driving force behind the work of MCDA.”
Before Atkins was appointed executive director, he held the interim executive position for about six months after the former executive director, Lloren Foster, was fired. He said he began hearing concerns about the atmosphere within APIA when former Director Nguyen resigned in late February.
When she got the letters from student ambassadors, Mary Kay Carodine, the assistant vice president of student affairs, said she accepted the resignation and read the recommendations.
“I think their concerns that they outlined were heard, and in many ways they matched what MCDA was already working on,” Carodine said.
She said they have already hired new MCDA ambassadors and are reshaping the training.
Though students in their resignation letter said they didn’t know how much weight their voices had, Carodine said their concerns were heard.
“I think students have been heard and given opportunities to share input in multiple venues,” Carodine said.
Concern for the student ambassadors motivated the former director of APIA from 2013 to 2016, Alexander Cena, and others formerly involved with the office to send a letter to Fuchs, Parrott, Carodine and Atkins at the beginning of April.
“There hasn’t been a statement from the university itself other than the announcement that the directors resigned,” Cena said. “Really it’s just to see what the university is doing, because there wasn’t a public call.”
In his email to administrators, he asked questions about the next steps. Carodine replied with an outline of some future plans and offered to go over the events related to Nguyen’s departure with Cena on the dates he said he would be in Gainesville. Carodine said they extended the director search process to make sure they have the best possible pool of applicants.
Cena said it’s important to know what the next steps for APIA are, especially for the students. He said when he spoke to some ambassadors before Spring Break, they were frustrated.
“A lot of them were just trying to figure out how to get the energy to move on, finish out the year,” Cena said.
Marcus Tran Degnan, a UF alumnus who graduated in 2015 and was an ambassador with APIA during his senior year, said it hurts seeing the office struggle. He said the office gives students real, professional experience, and he wants others to have the same opportunity to advance that he did.
“The main focus I kind of want as an alumni is to really support the current ambassadors that are there,” he said. “I’m just worried about, is anyone there to support the ambassadors?”
Contact Romy Ellenbogen at rellenbogen@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @romyellenbogen
