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Resources that our “marginalized communities and our students really rely on� are under attack, she said in a recent interview.

“That is scary,� said Grijalva, the second-term president of the Associated Students of the UA. “We’re living in scary times. I don’t think for college students, K-12 students, we ever expected to live in a time like we’re living in now, where everything is scary.�

Since President Donald Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, orders have threatened colleges and universities with the loss of federal research funding if activities and programming are not eliminated.

Additionally, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of thousands of international students, making them vulnerable to by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE agents. Numerous students went on to self-deport to their home countries or elsewhere.

In response to the DEI order, UA President Suresh Garimella told the university community on Feb. 18 that UA would take inventory of its DEI jobs, activities and programs. In the next few days, the university went on to remove its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion website and deleted the words “committed to diversity and inclusion“ from its widely used “land acknowledgement� statement that had been framed in partnership with tribal leaders.

“For the U of A specifically, seeing words being taken out because of Trump’s administration, I don’t think makes the students feel good. I feel like a lot of our identities are on the line,� Grijalva said.

In the following months, Garimella also sent a letter to Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen listing numerous ways the UA was shutting down DEI activities, which the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature deem “illegal discrimination.�

The UA also went on to centralize six of its seven .

Grijalva acknowledged the current situation for any university president is not easy. “I don’t know what these next four years will look like because we’re barely at the beginning,� she said.

But she said all three of Arizona’s public universities — the UA, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University — and the Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees them, need as much support as they can get to keep higher education going. The UA administration alone cannot fight the upcoming battles and needs Arizona legislators, unions and the UA community to do so, too, Grijalva said.

“These are real pressures with real financial consequences,� she said, referring to federal and state mandates that tie funding for universities to their compliance with particular political ideologies.

“That said, compliance cannot come at the expense of student well-being, intellectual rigor or academic freedom,� Grijalva continued. “We need to find ways to navigate this landscape while minimizing the impact on the student experience.�

UA cultural centers centralized

Starting in February, directors, staff and students connected with the cultural and resource centers fought against their centralization through protests, marches and signed petitions saying the centers provide important support for students.

While they were communicating and negotiating with then-Provost Ron Marx, many students and staff members said they heard no responses or acknowledgement from Garimella directly.

The UA was home to seven cultural and resource centers: Native American Student Affairs, Asian Pacific American Student Affairs, African American Student Affairs, the Guerrero Student Center, LGBTQ Student Affairs, the Women & Gender Resource Center, and the Disability Cultural Center. Each used to have individual directors, who were laid off in late May, and the centers collectively had about 80 staff members serving 28,000 students.

Now, six of these centers have been centralized to create a single, consolidated Student Culture and Engagement Hub.

The cultural centers were originally “built off protesting and students organizing, and I don’t think that should be taken away,� said Grijalva.

It was not OK with students, she added, that the centralization decision was announced to them after it was already made. She said students “don’t know what’s happening� and her goal as student body president is identifying such student needs, making sure the administration is communicating with them, and finding a way to involve students in those decisions.

“Free speech is important. I think the fact that students are getting their voices shut out is not fair to them,� Grijalva said.

Grijalva mentioned the UA had been doing a really good job with free speech — being ranked in the top 25 U.S. universities for by FIRE, or Foundation for Individual Rights in Education — but said she doesn’t know how UA would rank now.

She said she doesn’t think students will stop fighting for free speech, and that they shouldn’t be punished for it.

One of the protests earlier this year in defense of the cultural centers was held during Garimella’s formal installation ceremony as UA’s 23rd president. Grijalva chose not to be part of the ceremony, where she was expected to give a speech and sit on the platform with Garimella. Instead, she stood with the student protesters that day.

The day before, she put out a on social media stating her reasons.

“I didn’t feel comfortable getting up on that stage tomorrow, talking about what it means to be president or what the symbols of this university represent, when it feels like the voices of the students have been ignored,� she wrote. “Leadership is about listening, really listening, and making decisions that benefit the people you serve. President Garimella has the strongest voice in the room right now, but it feels like he’s not hearing what students are saying. And that’s why I’m choosing to stand with the students at the protest tomorrow.�

Grijalva said she knew she’d face some difficult conversations with UA administration after this decision, and that stepping out of the ceremony wasn’t something she took lightly. She said she knew she’d have to rebuild trust and repair relationships, but that she was willing to do that work because she values collaboration and wants to build a better institution for all students.

That day, her priority was clear, she said.

“I chose to be where I felt I was most needed and where I wanted to be standing with students,� she said. “I hope that action shows I’m committed not just in words, but in the choices I make. Moving forward, I want to be transparent about the concerns students are sharing, and I want those concerns to lead to real conversations, not silence.�

Arizona passes anti-encampment law

The Arizona Legislature passed a state law earlier this year, and the governor signed it, banning encampments on university and college campuses. The new law makes such encampments a state crime and subjects violators to arrest on trespassing charges.

The UA community responded with mixed reactions, with some students stating they feel safer with this law in place after the confrontational pro-Palestinian protests on campus in the spring of 2024, and some saying the law unfairly targets and suppresses pro-Palestinian sentiments.

“When the protests happened last year, we made it our job that students would feel safe to have their voices on campus and we worked very hard on that,� said Grijalva. She said there was a healthy relationship in which student organizers communicated with student government.

However, Grijalva said now it feels like students are getting punished for standing up for what they believe is right.

“The right to speak out, protest and advocate is a cornerstone of the college experience and of democracy,� she said. “However, recent guidance from government agencies and compliance offices has complicated how and where these rights will be exercised on campus.�

“We are advocating for clear, consistent guidelines that protect both student expression and the university’s obligations. Our goal is not to suppress voices, but with the new bill it will be difficult as encampments will no longer be allowed on college campuses,� Grijalva said. “We must do our best to continue to support students and free speech.�

Second-term goals

In her first term as student body president, Grijalva said she worked overtime to get to know students, hear their problems and build a connection based on trust.

She said she’s done weekend and online meetings at night with student groups, club meetings, town halls and more. It’s important to relate to students and their struggles so they know they’re not alone, she said, mentioning that she herself is a first-generation Latina college student, who used the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and that she knows what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck.

As for goals in her second term, Grijalva listed reaching more students across the university, including international, online and transfer students; helping students get more face time with administration to strengthen student advocacy and representation; making sure the cultural centers continue to support students; focusing on student needs such as food insecurity, housing, safety and mental health; and protecting and expanding access to resources.

She said she would like to have regular meetings with university leaders to present student concerns, and that she and recently appointed Provost Patricia Prelock have been working closely together to identify key ideas and initiatives to pursue.

She also wants to create more opportunities to hear from students, faculty and staff directly through town halls, events, roundtables, office hours, listening sessions and surveys. She’d also like to create dialogue with the Arizona Board of Regents’ members to follow up on student concerns expressed in the “Call to Audience� portion of board meetings.

“I want to bring others into the conversation,� Grijalva said. “I can’t take 40,000 students to a meeting with me, but if they (administrators) can see a face and a name to who these people are and get to have a conversation with them, I think that’s something we could do better.�