OU students are calling for change and increased transparency from the university after lack of communication following alterations to educational opportunity outreach programs for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Project Threshold, along with Upward Bound and the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, make up the Federal TRIO Programs, which are programs that help students who are disabled or are from first-generation and economically disadvantaged households.
Project Threshold was established at OU in 1970 and has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education since 1971. In 2016, the funds ran out after the federal government didn’t renew the grant, but former OU President David Boren funded it in the meantime. The same situation happened in 2019. There was a rumor in 2018 that the program was going to shut down, which former OU President Jim Gallogly denied, and demonstrators walked from Dale Hall to Evans Hall to voice their concerns.
A similar rumor was circulating when industrial systems engineering senior Alberto Alonso-Sandoval — who has been involved with the program for five years — decided to conduct his own investigation around the beginning of April.
Alonso-Sandoval said he didn’t know how credible the information was, and, being an engineering major, he wanted to understand the “nature of the problem” objectively.
He said he found out through talking with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office that changes were being made to the program, but further conversations with other staff, faculty and students revealed no one knew exactly what was happening.
“I was really starting to find out what all this was about, which was the first kind of issue that was presented, like, ‘Why is that? Why is it that no one really knows what's going on?’” Alonso-Sandoval said. “So, I continue to have these conversations with people and kind of piece all the information I am hearing to just understand what is going on.”
He said he found out the reconstruction of Project Threshold was supposed to happen over the summer, but by then “it’s too late” for students to have a say if the new plan doesn’t fit their needs.
Alonso-Sandoval said he asked them what was going to replace the new gaps in Project Threshold and eventually came to the conclusion that there “wasn’t a plan.”
“If they were un-investing in one thing and reinvesting in something that was going to benefit the community better, I (wouldn’t) have an issue with that,” Alonso-Sandoval said. “I do have an issue when they’re reducing staff and reallocating funds, and then there’s nothing that’s going to be put into place and we still don’t know what those plans would look like. It creates a gap in the students being served, which is an issue — especially if the university wants to prioritize diversity and inclusion.”
Alonso-Sandoval said he took it upon himself to provide information and transparency to his peers. Various organizations across campus, like OU Hispanic Royalty and Latinos Unidos, published press releases expressing their frustrations and outlining their calls for action on behalf of the administration for increased transparency.
Individual students also have started a conversation on Twitter with the #TRIOWorks, where they explain how the programs, specifically Project Threshold, have helped guide them through college and graduation, which some thought wasn’t possible.
One of the first press releases was from the OU Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and President Miguel Payan, who worked closely with Alonso-Sandoval on this issue, said the window to act was closing with summer around the corner.
“I think the majority of the people within the … community weren’t really kept in the loop, because they still thought this was a rumor,” Payan said. “(One) morning, Alberto texted me, ‘Hey, thank you for your help. Would you mind issuing a statement on behalf of SHPE?’ I think his intention was to get the ball rolling to increase awareness. I ended up writing the letter myself, and sent it out as soon as possible so we could get a sense of awareness within this issue and kind of apply pressure to the Office of DEI.”
DEI released a statement on Instagram addressing the rumors, press releases and concerns of TRIO Program students, saying Project Threshold “would not be downsizing.” However, Alonso-Sandoval and Payan said this is a lie.
“The definition of downsizing is, literally, ‘You make something smaller or make a company organization smaller by limiting staff positions,’ which has already taken place,” Alonso-Sandoval said. “There’s already a contradiction from the reality of what’s taking place with how they’re responding to this.”
Alonso-Sandoval said he spoke with Belinda Hyppolite, the vice president of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the OU chief diversity officer. He said the conversation got “a little heated,” but was an important dialogue to have in understanding Hyppolite’s perspective.
In a recording provided by Alonso-Sandoval of his conversation with Hyppolite, he asked for specifics about what was happening to Project Threshold beyond what their release said, specifically the funding of the program.
“No funding from this program has been cut at all,” Hyppolite said in the recording. “What has been cut is the cost of salaries so that the money can go to directly serve students, which is what it was intended to do before.”
Alonso-Sandoval said the Project Threshold staff team went from four to two, and Payan said that although one staff member is still at OU and in a different department, the downsizing is still a concern because Project Threshold serves around 300 students.
In the recording, Hyppolite said if the program’s funding was still provided by the U.S. Department of Education, the grant would generally be around “a $275,000 commitment” with up to 70 percent for student services. However, she said under the current budget model from the university, only $1,000 was being provided.
“(Our reallocation) is being realigned with the purpose of the dollars that are provided federally from the government, (even if) this is an expense the university has assumed until this grant is gained,” Hyppolite said in the recording. “It is to provide programming opportunities to make sure this program is partnering across the university on workforce readiness, tutoring, services, alternative spring breaks, being able to support students to study abroad and things of that nature.”
Assistant Vice President of DEI Teara Flagg Lander wrote in an email to The Daily that the TRIO Programs will be moved to one central location since they are all currently housed in different buildings, and all be under the guidance of one TRIO executive director.
She wrote funding for the Project Threshold has never “struggled,” but is just waiting for the grant cycle to reopen so they can reapply, which happens every five years.
“Currently, the Division of DEI is funding Project Threshold,” Lander said. “One of the goals of the executive director is to apply for more grants and seek additional funding to continue to support students and guide them through pathway programs.”
Payan said he understands budgeting causes restrictions, but students still deserve to make their concerns known to try and help advocate for more reallocation of money for services such as the TRIO Programs.
“I acknowledge the efforts the DEI is making to be more cognitive with their money,” Payan said. “Ultimately, what matters affects students so much, I think they should be a part of the conversation at a much earlier stage and a high level of emphasis, like releasing information out as soon as possible.”
Alonso-Sandoval said a stipulation of the various organization’s press releases he helped with was a push for transparency from OU, which Hyppolite said in the recording has been a “failure” on the administration’s part.
“I do believe that there were some failures in leadership and how the messaging was communicated with students,” Hyppolite said in the recording. “We can only have conversations with the leaders of the program. If it doesn’t trickle down to students, that means there was a failure in leadership on this. I won't make any excuses about that.”
Lander wrote DEI leadership has met with several student leaders, both collectively and individually, and hosted a town hall forum which was open to all TRIO students. She also wrote discrepancies came from lack of communication.
“The discrepancy came because there was not an opportunity for students to learn about the changes to Project Threshold via a press release from DEI before changes in the office happened,” Lander wrote. “Therefore, it stirred rumors, which increased our timeline of creating a press release that was in the final stages”.
Hyppolite said in the recording, in her position, she has championed students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and recognizes there have been missteps but no actions to intentionally hurt or harm students in any way.
“That’s why I’m a leader, because our job is to support our students, to undergird them and to make sure that they know they are valued and we want to be here for them,” Hyppolite said in the recording. “To ask me, as chief diversity officer, if I value serving underserved, underrepresented, under-resourced communities, it feels like an oxymoron and almost an insult, since I’m a product of trials and a product of underserved communities.”
Payan said the statement released by DEI gave him mixed feelings, but overall reassured him that the office will work with the students further on this situation.
“It kind of gave me hope for a better future rather than just an office not really validating a statement,” Payan said. “I think it’s on the right track right now. I just think, ‘What the heck?’ like, this is the end of the semester and it’s just not the best timing, but we want to try to get something done before summer.”
Alonso-Sandoval and Payan said they will continue to have conversations with anyone who is willing, and Alonso-Sandoval said he encourages others to “be themselves and to not be intimidated” as they open up these conversations.
“The purpose of this institution is to listen to you and to answer your questions,” Alonso-Sandoval said. “I realized many students feel there’s a division within the power dynamics with administrators, or faculty and students. The faculty and staff are also limited with what they can and can’t do to make certain changes within the institution because their job is with this university, but this university’s job is to serve.”
This article was updated May 12 at 12:57 p.m. to include statements from the DEI office.
