Western Washington University’s Viking Union Gallery will close fall quarter of 2025 and be repurposed to house the La Plaza Latine Student Center.
This decision comes from Melynda Huskey, Vice President of Student Affairs at Western. Concerned community members have started a petition in an attempt to save the VU Gallery. The petition states that signers do not “wish to subvert plans to expand the Center,” rather they hope for an alternative solution.
Huskey said there was a “considerable amount of time” spent trying to find an appropriate space for the center and it was determined that the space where the VU Gallery is currently located is the “best fit for the programmatic needs of La Plaza.”
These needs include gathering and collaboration spaces for students and an office space for Rodrigo Gonzalez-Juarez, Western’s Latine Student Retention Specialist. Huskey and Casey Hayden, Associate Director of Student Activities, stated that it was also important that the center be located near other similar student programs, such as the Black Student Coalition space.
“The physical space resources on our campus are extremely limited and many areas operate in undersized spaces, so it was immediately apparent that there would be no easy solution to finding space for La Plaza that wouldn’t involve re-purposing a location that already had a long-standing and important function,” Hayden wrote in an email.
La Plaza has a temporary location in Gonzalez-Juarez’s current office, but this space is not conducive to the growth or productivity of the center, Huskey said.
“What we need is a space that will allow for both [Gonzalez-Juarez’s] administrative responsibilities and for students to gather and work together,” Huskey said.
The Front reached out to Rodrigo Gonzalez-Juarez and the WWU Latine Student Union, and both declined to comment.
There is growing concern in the campus art community about what this change means for students in the Art and Art History program, who rely on the gallery to get experience showcasing their work.
“What we feel is a sense for our students that they’ve been excluded from this decision in every way,” said Monique Kerman, a professor in the Art and Art History department.
Owen Kotal is a member of the Society for Photographic Education Club at Western.
“It's a very common theme in colleges and universities to invest less in the arts, like studio and fine arts, as compared to STEM or engineering,” Kotal said.
The gallery was first built in the late 1980s and it was always the intention for that space to be an art gallery. Kotal worries the location isn't suitable for an office and is a poor means of getting La Plaza a designated space.
“Their goal is to establish a space for Latine people on campus, and as far as I know, the only thing they've attempted to do is use the gallery for that,” Kotal said. “I haven't seen any other attempts to do it in any other spaces, and it seems like they're trying to get this space in however they can, even if that means squeezing them into a spot that won't be the best for them.”
Noah Gray, a sixth-year student at Western and the Viking Union Gallery’s director, expressed disappointment that the decision was made without consulting him and worries about the already limited opportunities within the department.
“The VU Gallery with gallery attendants, a paid student gallery director and a marketing team’s support provides greater opportunity for professional gallery exhibitions that is so necessary for emerging artists and museum workers, and allows us to bring more accomplished artists to Western,” Gray wrote in an email.
Avery Robertson, lead officer of the Society for Photographic Education Club, also worries that the gallery will not function well for the needs of the Latine Student Center.
“It's not a good office space. It's concrete with no windows and it gets really hot. It's just not a good space to be in for any long amount of time,” Robertson said.
The closing of the gallery isn’t only a detriment to the Art and Art History department, but also to the broader campus community, as it is a student-run space where anyone can exhibit artwork.
“There is also this aspect of challenging, graphic, possibly inflammatory art being censored and rather than an expansion of access, it would be a loss of it,” Kerman said. “The students and the director and the VU Gallery goers wouldn’t have that space to gather and create these exhibitions together and for their peers.”
Both Kotal and Robertson stated that members of the Society for Photographic Education Club are rooting for La Plaza to have a home, but are hurt that it may mean losing their own.
“There’s no problem with the Latine students needing a place on campus, it’s not us versus them,” Robertson said.
Huskey said that while chances are “exceptionally low” that the decision will change, that shouldn’t stop students from voicing their concerns. She emphasized that while it won’t necessarily be in a gallery-specific setting, there will still be opportunities to engage in art on campus and employment opportunities will remain.
Madelyn Jones (she/her) is a city life reporter for The Front this quarter. She is a fourth-year news/editorial pre-major and anthropology minor. When she’s not working on a story, she likes reading and listening to music. You can reach her at madelynjones.thefront@gmail.com.
Natalie Brown (she/her) is a campus life reporter for The Front. She is a Public Relations Journalism major in her second year at Western and loves to spend her time playing video games and spending time with her cats and friends. You can reach her at Brownn46.TheFront@Gmail.com.
