GREELEY, Colo. — Months after a heartfelt and emotional rally at the University of Northern Colorado, students, alumni and former professors pleaded with the university's Board of Trustees members at its Friday meeting to reverse a university decision to cut several programs.

In April, university administrators chose not to renew contracts for six contract-renewable instructors, effectively leaving those instructors without a job. Additionally, school administrators opted to close the European languages and cultures, French, and German programs from its course catalog.

“The most important content to my education was access to the courses in my liberal arts programs; the very cuts that are being made here,” Tricia Jolley, an anthropology senior lecturer, told the board. “These classes are instrumental in building the bridges of equity and diversity, and removing the barriers to upward mobility.”

Jolley, a first-generation college student and UNC alumna, has spearheaded a group of students, alumni and faculty called “Bears who Care and Friends of Bears.” The group was formed after the university announced its decision to cut several humanities and social science programs, and has met with the College of Humanities and Social Sciences dean and university president. After receiving unsatisfactory answers from university administrators, the group hoped the Board of Trustees, who have ultimate say over the future of the university, could reverse what they saw as an unfair and poor decision.

“We’ve been really trying to get communication from the president, the provost, the administration, and we haven’t gotten anywhere with it. They’re just not answering questions, and so this was the next step,” said Neal Jeppeson, a UNC student who addressed the board Friday. “In an ideal world, I’d like to see them reverse all cuts as immediately as possible.”

After the decision to cut programs was announced, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean Laura Connolly emailed all students in the college with facts surrounding the situation, including the key fact that students in the cut programs would still be able to graduate on time and that the programs were slashed because of declining enrollment, according to emails obtained by Rocky Mountain PBS.

“There are many pressures on enrollments at UNC and in [humanities and social sciences] specifically,” Connolly wrote in the email. “I know all of us are working as hard as possible to ensure that we align our course offerings with courses students need to graduate in a timely fashion and have a high-quality educational experience, while at the same time supporting faculty and staff to be successful.”

Several world language faculty members then responded by citing university data showing that university enrollment decreased across several programs other than the humanities, and language majors have always had only a few dozen students.

“I understand the position which you are in, but ultimately there is no excuse for dropping this on the students and faculty in these departments with so little warning and support,” Jeppeson also wrote in an email to Connolly.

The board did not make any decisions Friday, and the activists who asked trustees to reverse the decision said they knew it would be a long process, but those who spoke said the decision will have immediate and devastating impacts on the students and professors it affects.

“So many of my colleagues and their students have had their worlds so shaken by these administrative decisions which cut so deeply into their university,” said Don Perl, a UNC alumni who taught in the Department of Hispanic Studies for 16 years. “Do we owe our students more? Don’t we owe ourselves more? Aren’t we here to do better?”

Perl said the slashed programs are particularly important in a time of deep political polarization.

“All of these national and world events impact us all here,” Perl said. “And our students feel it and know it. We aren’t here to solve all these issues, but we are here to take on the noble task of inspiration, of lighting a candle.”

While trustees told students they were listening and had the students’ best interest at heart, Giovanni Esparza, a recent alumnus, said his voice has repeatedly been silenced by administrators.

Esparza was one of several students who wrote chalked messages supporting the slashed programs on the university’s sidewalks, which he said was erased both times within hours after it was written.

“From that point on, I realized that this goes even bigger than the issue that we thought we had. This is about silencing students when it’s most important for them to not be silenced,” Esparza said. “With me being a person of color and having my voice erased like that, it's disheartening when they talk about being a university that cares about its students.”

Esparza planned to speak to the board during what he believed would be a public comment session following the other speakers’ official agenda item, but the board chair told him a formality in the meeting would prevent a public comment session from occurring.

“It’s really inaccessible for a first-generation student and a student of color,” Esparza said. “It’s very hard to live in."

Alison Berg is a multimedia journalist at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at alisonberg@rmpbs.org.