Nyumburu community protests outside UMD Admin Building, demanding communication, transparency and stability

EDITORS NOTE: THE NYUMBURU CULTURAL CENTER SPONSORS THE BLACK EXPLOSION NEWSPAPER’S WEBSITE THROUGH JULY. LAURA CHARLESTON SIGNED THE STUDENT AMBASSADOR’S LETTER AND IS THE COPY CHIEF FOR THE BLACK EXPLOSION. SHE DID NOT WORK ON THIS STORY. 

Calls for transparency, accountability and better support from University of Maryland students and Nyumburu Cultural Student Ambassadors echoed from the steps of the Administration Building on Wednesday afternoon following the miscommunication between the ambassadors and university staff.

This comes after years of built-up tension between the university and the Cultural Center.

“A lot of the time, the administration makes decisions that directly go against the interests of what the students want,” said Mohammed Salih, a Nyumburu student ambassador. “We have to pick up the pieces after.”

University of Maryland students marched from the Nyumburu Cultural Center to the steps of the Thomas V. Miller Jr. Administration building, chanting “Freedom House,” “This is what resistance looks like” and “Bring Dr. Psyche back.”

Earlier in April, the student ambassadors sent a letter to university leadership, including President Darryll Pines and Vice President of Belonging and Community Georgina Dodge, alleging that Nyumburu Interim Director Psyche Williams-Forson was being prematurely terminated. The letter contained a list of eight demands, one of which being to involve students when making decisions related to Nyumburu.

The university denied the allegations and the ambassadors have since said the allegations spawned from a miscommunication.

In a second letter sent by student ambassadors, they acknowledged the mistake, but maintained that the fault fell on the Office of Belonging and Community.

“We have been given fragmented, inconsistent and insufficient information,” the letter read. “That lack of transparency is itself one of our central concerns.”

Nyumburu ambassadors met with Dodge and other university leadership on April 9, the day Dodge announced her retirement. Salih told The Black Explosion that during the meeting, university administration said Williams-Forson could not stay as director because it was not in their budget.

Williams-Forson told the Black Explosion she was not invited to the meeting. 

“Little to none of our demands were actually met at all,” said Salih. “If they were addressed, it was with appeasing fluff comments that were really just trying to diffuse the situation rather than rectify it.”

Williams-Forson said her and Dodge have had “ongoing conversations.” During these conversations, she assured Dodge that her goal is to “make sure the students are stable” by the end of her tenure in August.

Because Williams-Forson is leaving without a new director selected, ambassadors are worried about the direction of Nyumburu.

“Who’s going to represent us for the future?” said student ambassador Jayden Ervin. “We don’t necessarily have the power to have a say in all of the steps going forward.”

The search for a permanent director of the Nyumburu Cultural Center is ongoing according to an email from the Office of Belonging and Community to The Black Explosion.

“Belonging leadership will be meeting again with Nyumburu staff next Wednesday and with the student ambassadors next Thursday,” the Office of Belonging and Community wrote. “Nyumburu student ambassadors will be invited and encouraged to participate in the search process and meet and provide feedback on the finalists.”

Williams-Forson did not comment on whether she is seeking consideration for the position.