University of Arizona President Suresh Garimella walks in front of protestors at his official installation ceremony on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.
Arizona lawmakers and education leaders gathered in Tucson on Tuesday to officially install Suresh Garimella as the 23rd President of the University of Arizona as tensions over DEI in higher education continue.
Governor Katie Hobbs, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, and Arizona Board of Regents Chair Cecilia Mata joined faculty and staff for a ceremony that started on the steps of Old Main and processed into Centennial Hall.
At the same time, protesters across the street were already calling on the new President to do more for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
As a blessing and Land Acknowledgement were completed by Associate Dean Carlos Gonzales of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, protesters grouped just a few hundred yards away could be heard over the ceremony, chanting “Garimella, you can’t hide, DEI fills us with pride,” and “escucha, escucha, estamos en la lucha.” [listen, listen, we are in the fight.]
The protest at Garimella’s installation comes a few days after the UA DEI Collective gave faculty an April 1 deadline to respond to a list of demands on their social media, most notably calling for a commitment to maintaining jobs and programming at Cultural Resource Centers.
The students and faculty organized under the Coalition to Protect Students and Workers said the cultural centers provide experiences ranging from cultural celebrations and professional development for students, to free food and homework printing.
Sophomore Allie Parker works at the Women and Gender Resource Center on campus.
“We provide a feminist pharmacy that has safe sex and menstrual products for anyone, no questions asked, including free plan B,” she said.
Last month, the University removed a DEI statement in its official land acknowledgement, and removed the website for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, causing further worry that other campus commitments will also be impacted.
Parker protested Tuesday’s installation because she hopes the new President will listen to concerns from faculty and staff.
“I also just wish that he would recognize that DEI and these centers on campus and the work that we do is important. And would think maybe, before he eradicates us,” she said.
In his address, Garimella’s speech focused heavily on his vision for expanding research capacity, especially in STEM fields.
“The University of Arizona will always be the university for Arizona, the greatest and most comprehensive research institution in the southwest,” he said. “We will build on our greatest strengths and double down in areas that include advancing space science and national security, provisioning abundant energy and water through the commercialization of fusion energy, exploiting artificial intelligence and data science to enhance healthcare and biomedicine and modernizing mining to provide sustainable access to critical minerals.”
Faculty Senate Chair Leila Hudson emphasized the trust placed in the new president as “the most important element of challenging times.”
“We trust that he will keep our campus safe for all from violence, including state violence, that he will provide the meaningful support that each and every student needs to realize their educational potential, and we trust that he will not infringe on our students constitutional freedoms under cover of security needs, fear mongering or political pressures,” she said.
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