I have a fear of doing things wrong, and lately I have been wondering if I missed a memo. Perhaps I was supposed to have shut down the Center for Science and Mathematics Education, known as the CSME, that I direct here at Weber State.

This summer, state universities were required to respond to House Bill 261. The premise is that our public institutions shouldn’t provide anything to some that could be exclusionary to others.

Weber State’s solution was to close a long list of cultural identity centers, each with a mission to welcome specific groups of students and provide places of targeted support. I don’t agree but I understand the rationale: Why should an open-enrollment public institution provide a resource to one group that isn’t available to another? The university shifted to create more general services for everyone — and no one in particular, a double-edged sword. Targeted services open access to students who might not otherwise find the buoyancy they need at the university.

This is how I think about the mission of CSME. Perhaps it was spared because our footprint lies in a completely different division of campus, associated with academics rather than student support. Yet, as a center for science and mathematics education, its mission is very narrow, supporting students and teachers to build credentials in science and math learning. Around the conference table last week, a group was discussing our challenges in science learning and how to make a piece of math curriculum less boring. History students could join, but they’d have to make do with a textbook entitled “Ambitious Science Teaching” or a journal from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. We have a kit with pressed plants and another with rock samples. And, of course, there’s me with some credentials and gumption to roll bowling balls down hallways and help people figure out principles of motion. I suppose our strength is in the very specific materials and framework we provide.

More important, we are bolstered by those we serve. Students and local teachers of science and math join in programs supporting their unique identity. In turn, their enigmatic science and math selves become part of a vibrant exhibit we welcome, shared understandings and ways of existing. Science is a culture of practices including people with identities braided into the discipline and our studies. In spite of stereotypes, we’re a lively collection of collaborative humans whose very personhood is embodied by connection to the natural world, curved geometries, systems of ecological webs. These folks don’t just study something outside of themselves, they are the beautiful essence of that inquiry.

So I ask: Why should we leave open a center for supporting math and science teaching but close one that supports the successes of my LGBTQ+ students? (If you have an immediate response to this, I’d invite you to think carefully.) How arbitrary (or overt) are we being in supporting a space for STEM teachers but not a women’s center; a center for student athletes but no longer a space for Hispanic and Latino students?

How we learn in school, how we perform on stage, the degree to which we succeed in anything — these are not just a matter of knowing but being safe, in all manners, in our spaces and communities. Research backs this up. My own work documents how misunderstandings in science content aren’t just a matter of not interpreting concepts in a logical way, but connecting certain science ideas to emotion and belief. We all do this. The flip side is that the emotive connection to our learning also fundamentally enhances it. We are whole people in classrooms, not machines with solid-state switches.

Weber State has recognized this for a long time. We have counseling services and food pantries. We have lactation rooms and child care services. Besides CSME, we have veteran services, a center for students with disabilities and so many others. And we’ll continue to host these.

This is where I find my handhold on hope.

Our offices, mine included, welcome you, especially those looking for their place in the world and the university. Science has a rich tradition for this, brilliant thinkers searching for the spaces where their valuable contributions get heard and belong. Bring your diverse selves and we’ll celebrate you and the community formed around you. You make me better and I’m privileged to have you here. You may not notice when placards change because we’ll push our doors open that much wider.

Adam Johnston is a professor of physics and director of the Center for Science and Mathematics Education at Weber State University, where he helps prepare future teachers and supports educators throughout Utah.

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