UNA closed its inclusion offices this summer, with no public announcement or communication to students.
The Mitchell-West Center for Social Inclusion had its entire online presence removed and its physical offices closed down. The shutdown began in July of this year. This change has raised concern from members of the UNA community, especially about the lack of communication from the university.
“Not only was Social Inclusion a safe space and a voice for students, but they also provided mentoring for [first] [g]eneration [s]tudents,” Matt Jones, a student-employee with UNA’s Housing and Residence Life department said in a social media post.
The university maintains that the decision to close the center is related to its consolidation of several programs into one central office.
“The University of North Alabama remains focused on supporting students and ensuring that our programs and services are structured in ways that most effectively meet their needs,” university spokesperson Michelle Eubanks said to The Flor-Ala. “To that end, several student-facing services are being combined under the ROAR Access Center to streamline access, improve coordination and enhance the overall student experience.”
UNA administration has not made any formal public announcement about the state of Mitchell-West.
The Mitchell-West Center was responsible for hosting many events and programs for a wide variety of students, focusing on a large range of topics, including self-care, LGBTQ+ awareness, food insecurity, suicide prevention, physical health and mental health.
Dr. Andrea Hunt, the former executive director of the center and current professor of sociology at UNA, said that she was informed of the university’s decision to close the center on July 30. She said she was not involved in any conversations leading up to that day regarding the center’s closing, and has not been asked for input regarding future inclusion efforts either.
The center was opened in 2019 and was led by Hunt until its closure.
Though Mitchell-West has been shut down, many groups that have worked with the center, such as Student Counseling Services and Social Work Organization, are still operational.
Student name changes
Students in the LGBTQ+ community who use preferred names have had their preferred names reverted to their legal names in the Canvas Learning Management System. Though this has seemingly coincided with the closing of Mitchell-West, which provided many support systems for the community, UNA has attributed this to a malfunction within the system that is completely unrelated to Mitchell-West, according to Dr. Hunt.
Laura Holt • Sep 9, 2025 at 3:00 pm
Just called and tried to talk about this as my BS came from UNA and I went on to earn my PhD in Psychology and I’m currently serving as a licensed psychologist specializing in LGBTQ+ care. I was directed to Ms. Eubanks, and I left a message asking who was consulted and how this is thought to serve this vulnerable population to withdraw services at this critical time of oppression against LGBTQ+ young people, expressing my serious concerns. I guess the fact that my call was referred to the PR specialist tells me everything I need to know about how serious is UNA about making ethical, science-based decisions about protecting their students.
Falon Yates ('18) • Aug 22, 2025 at 8:03 pm
Michelle Eubanks’s entire job is to PR babble at you. What she needs to answer is how any of that nonsense she told you explains why they had to shutter the center without warning, even to its director. If UNA were really “focused on supporting students,” they wouldn’t end the program without its replacement already in operation. She is misdirecting you. Call her out. And dig deeper than the PR lackey. UNA gets away with way too much.