By Alicia Colegrove
Nyumburu Cultural Center student ambassadors sent a letter Thursday to University of Maryland administrators formally objecting to the termination of Psyche Williams-Forson as the center’s interim director.
Seventeen people from Nyumburu, an African-American cultural center at this university, and the UMD NAACP chapter signed the letter stating that the decision to terminate Williams-Forson by the end of this month was made without consulting the students and staff who work alongside her.
Belonging and Community Vice President Georgina Dodge said in a press meeting with student journalists Friday that Williams-Forson’s contract was not prematurely terminated and is instead set to expire in August.
Dodge said the student ambassadors received misinformation and that the letter validated the search for a permanent director and stable leadership. She added that the letter was a surprise to her, and said she had no desire to terminate Williams-Forson prematurely.
“I’m also disappointed about any harm that this may have caused to Doctor Psyche Williams-Forson. She is a wonderful colleague who has provided temporary part-time leadership to Nyumburu,” Dodge said.
Williams-Forson assumed the role of interim director in September 2025 following Ronald Zeigler’s retirement as the previous director in August of that year. Williams-Forson is also a professor and serves as Chair of the Department of American Studies.
“When Dr. Psyche started, we, the ambassadors, were under the impression that she would be here for at least a year,” said Jade Blackmoore, a junior environmental science and policy major and Nyumburu student ambassador.
Blackmoore said student ambassadors were kept in the dark about Williams-Forson’s contract termination and were only told that Belonging & Community at UMD, formerly the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, was planning to look for a replacement.
According to Dodge, a committee is currently being put together to conduct a national search for a new permanent director and “hopefully” appoint someone by the start of the fall semester.
“We were greatly saddened by this because, essentially, Dr. Psyche has been doing an amazing job as our interim director,” Blackmoore said. “So it became quite a surprise to us that the university plans on switching her out.”
The letter concluded with students stating they hope to receive a written response addressing the letter’s eight demands, including keeping Williams-Forson as Nyumburu’s interim director through the end of 2028, within 10 days of the letter being sent.
In response to the letter’s demands, Dodge said she encourages student ambassadors to meet with her to discuss their concerns.
“I really wish they [student ambassadors] had come to me and spoken with me so that I could correct any misinformation they may have been provided,” Dodge said.
Following Dodge’s Friday meeting with the press, Nyumburu’s student ambassadors stated in a follow-up letter that while their initial understanding that Williams-Forson’s termination was premature was incorrect, they do not accept responsibility for the confusion.
“We are not the source of misinformation. We are the product of your office’s lack of transparency and accountability,” the letter read.
The follow-up letter also stated that student ambassadors did not accept the press meeting as a response to the initial letter, and still expect a written response to their original eight demands. It also said student ambassadors were not invited to the Friday press conference.
“Dr. Dodge chose to address our letter publicly, to student reporters, about student concerns — without the students who wrote the letter present,” the letter read. “This is not a minor procedural oversight. It is a continuation of the same pattern we documented in the original letter: decisions made about our community, without our community.”
Featured: A 50th anniversary banner outside the Nyumburu Culture Center on Feb. 24. Photo by Kendrick Brown.
Editor’s Note: This story was last updated on April 4, 2026.