PSU Fired Women’s Resource Center Director With No Explanation

On a regular work day in late April, Nic Francisco-Kaho’onei, the former director of Portland State University’s (PSU) Women’s Resource Center (WRC), was called in for a meeting with their supervisor. Francisco-Kaho’onei was being terminated, not for disciplinary reasons, but “based on the needs of the university.” Stunned, Francisco-Kaho’onei asked for cause, but was given no reason for their termination. PSU wasn’t required to since Francisco-Kaho’onei was a non-union employee. 

After the meeting, Francisco-Kaho’onei was locked out of their university email and placed on administrative leave. Despite directly supporting students through that email, the WRC director was left to reach out to students over the phone to inform them of the situation. 

“I [texted those students], even though it was no longer my employee obligation, because I have a fucking heart,” Francisco-Kaho’onei told the Mercury. “I had students I was providing direct support to and all the sudden they can’t even email me. It’s so harmful … I don’t think [PSU] considered that.”

The WRC is meant to be a space of empowerment. It offers resources such as sexual health supplies, menstrual supplies, and a feminist and queer library, as well as community engagement opportunities and feminist leadership education. 

In August, OPB reported PSU is shuttering its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) office with aims to restructure, which PSU says is unrelated to federal positions on DEI. 

In September, the university again lost staff after an expedited return-to-office mandate that caught some workers off guard. The staffing shake-ups are emblematic of what some employees say is a larger pattern of PSU moving away from its previously stated values and lacking transparency.

Also of note: The program coordinator for the Native American Student & Community Center was given notice of layoff, effective October, according to a letter from PSU’s Equity, Belonging, and Inclusion Committee to senior leadership in the Office of Student Affairs.

The letter from the Committee—which Francisco-Kaho’onei was co-chair of—said both terminations raised major concerns.

“Such actions have caused fear amongst staff and decreased trust due to lack of transparency and communication,” the letter said. 

According to PSU’s Strategic Communications Director, Christina Williams, PSU has no plans to close the WRC, and both staffing and programming are currently undergoing review. 

“The Women’s Resource Center and the services it provides to students is an extremely important part of our campus community,” Williams told the Mercury back in July. “In addition, PSU is committed to a workplace without discrimination or retaliation as outlined in our Prohibited Discrimination and Harassment Policy.” 

But in the context of the Trump administration’s attacks on universities and DEI policies, Francisco-Kaho’onei’s firing comes at a troubling time and has had broader consequences.

Katy Swordfisk, PSU’s media relations manager, confirmed that Erica Fonseca and Mireya Rosas-Barajas, both with the Queer Resource Center, have taken over as interim co-directors of the WRC. 

Neither Williams nor Swordfisk would comment on why Francisco-Kaho’onei was fired, citing confidential personnel matters.

Francisco-Kaho’onei’s employee file contained no disciplinary notes. It also lacked any performance reviews, despite their nearly three years with the university. Performance reviews for unrepresented staff appear to be required under PSU policy.

Francisco-Kaho’onei believes they were terminated for their public support of Palestine and student activism. 

“I recently lost my job—not for any legal wrongdoing or breach of contract—but because I refused to stay silent in the face of genocide,” Francisco-Kaho’onei wrote in a letter to the editor of the PSU Vanguard. 

The former WRC director recalled a number of conduct disagreements throughout their tenure with the university, particularly on the grounds of institutional neutrality, suggesting the WRC would not exist without political action from students.

Francisco-Kaho’onei described one disagreement where a student was suggested they remove a coloring page from the children’s area of the WRC that featured the phrase “from the river to the sea.” Francisco-Kaho’onei said this was one sheet among around 50, each with political commentary ranging from health care to policing.

“I come from the traditions of women, gender, and sexuality studies, and ethnic studies,” Francisco-Kaho’onei said. “Those fields come out of student activism, and so to me it’s an affront to the legacy of the fields that I’ve taught at universities to consider academia, universities, and student life to be neutral grounds.”

Francisco-Kaho’onei is an active member of PSU’s Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, a group that has pushed back against the university’s treatment of student protesters. 

Following their termination, the group posted student comments in support of Francisco-Kaho’onei, along with a petition to reinstate them. 

“Nic [Francisco-Kaho’onei] embodies what PSU claims to espouse,” one anonymous student said in a community response posted by the Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine Instagram account. “We’ll see whether that is just talk or whether PSU will do the right thing and keep Nic here where they’re so desperately needed.”

Since then, Francisco-Kaho’onei has not been reinstated. The former employee filed a tort claim notice against PSU, indicating the potential for legal action.