Layoff of respected student support leader sparks concern
Outside of Santa Monica College’s library, Wendi DeMorst sat for a photograph she didn’t expect to need — one marking the end of a career she thought would last six more years.
DeMorst, an associate dean who oversees tutoring and academic support programs serving thousands of students, is among a select group of managers listed for layoffs as the college moves to close a $17.4 million deficit. Her departure — alongside broader staff cuts — has raised concerns among colleagues who say her work is central to support and equity efforts.
“Some people have reasons for wanting me to go that aren’t necessarily pure,” DeMorst said. “There’s always a price to pay when you’re a person who speaks out. I’m paying that price.”
DeMorst was hired in 2008 as a project manager and intended to work at the college for two years. Her first performance evaluation noted that to say she “hit the ground running from the moment she joined the college is an understatement.” She remained, she said, because of colleagues who shared a commitment to supporting students.
Early in her career with the district, DeMorst worked near the Black Collegians program, where she participated in the women’s empowerment group, Sister to Sister, and became an informal mentor and advocate for students, according to program leader Sherri Bradford.
“She made students always feel seen,” Bradford said. “I don’t see that from a lot of administrators.”
DeMorst isn’t an official member of Black Collegians, a program focused on assisting Black/African American students transfer to four-year universities, but she’s integral to the office, Bradford said — an office that received two statewide awards at the Umoja Community’s annual conference in 2025; one for top student success and high achievement, and another for most degrees awarded in the history of Umoja.
Bradford said she was shocked and saddened by the news of DeMorst’s layoff and worries about the loss of a voice she sees as critical in budgetary decisions affecting student services.
“To have someone who has been here for 18 years and then to be told by email that you’re losing your job — I couldn’t wrap my brain around it,” Bradford said.
Colleagues describe DeMorst as someone who is student-centered and extremely vocal about meeting stated equity goals—often finding herself at odds with other administrators. “So it leads me to think and not just me, but others that somehow this is personal,” Bradford said.
“There’s not been transparency about why and who and how those decisions were being made,” Bradford added. “So it leaves one to think, is this the reason why she is being laid off?”
SMC’s 2025-28 Faculty and Staff Diversity Report shows Black/African American people make up 11% of faculty and 29% of administration. If the trustees lay off DeMorst, it’s going to create resentment and dampen visual representation, said Regis Peeples, secretary of the Pan African Faculty and Staff Alliance.
“Because when you have an exceptional person like that, and you have other people that are in that department (Academic Affairs) that aren’t being let go of, it's kind of like being gaslit into thinking they served no purpose,” Peeples said.
The effort that DeMorst put in, especially working alongside Bradford, played a huge part in SMC receiving a Black-Serving Institution designation from the state in February. She advocated for students in meetings, guided them around campus and put them in front of equity-minded colleagues, Peeples said.
“It’s just really unfortunate because Wendi is kind of like the glue that sticks everything together,” Peeples added.
DeMorst manages 31 staff members across the college’s Supplemental Instruction program, tutoring centers and academic labs, which provide peer-led study sessions and support services to students across disciplines. When she was offered the associate dean role in 2021, she requested to combine it with her previous position as director of supplemental instruction to unify the college’s tutoring services under one structure.
It has not been easy for DeMorst as a Black administrator given the historical dynamics of personnel in her program but her commitment to students and doing the work makes her the true leader she is, her latest performance evaluation notes.
While working for SMC, DeMorst, who holds a master’s degree in teaching and a license, says she’s had her credentials as an educator questioned by colleagues. Her ideas were also stolen and dismissed until a white coworker would repeat them.
“I’ve been in meetings where she has introduced ideas that would really foster a greater sense of community across all tutoring spaces that the students would really benefit from, and I’ve seen where there’s been great pushback. I mean to the point of, really disrespect for some of the ideas that she’s brought forth,” said Clay Barham, an English professor.
“She’s had to watch, consistently, people diminish her ideas or tell her why what she came up with can’t be done or shouldn’t be done, only for them to come back and ask her in some way to do double work, to do work she’s already done,” Barham said. “To come up with ideas she’s already come up with, and people just haven’t listened to her.”
When asked for examples, neither faculty nor staff would provide information about closed-door meetings, citing fear of retaliation from upper management.
DeMorst said being laid off doesn’t anger her, only that it hurts. Her bosses notified her that the college was laying off members of her staff, and after she returned from consoling them, she learned from an email that she’s also losing her job.
None of her bosses have spoken with her to explain why she is being laid off, and she is aware of other managers who received an explanation for why they’re being impacted, DeMorst said.
The Corsair reached out to members of the college's upper management for an interview regarding DeMorst, but as of publication, no one has responded.
Foundation President Lizzy Moore says the loss of anyone that has been a “bright light” and a contributor to the campus is devastating, but with DeMorst it’s particularly challenging and personal.
The college’s signature fundraiser, Giving Thanksgiving, is often credited to the SMC Foundation, but it started with DeMorst. She would feed international students with nowhere to go for the holiday at her home until Moore asked to co-host the dinner, Moore said.
The dinner was moved to Moore’s backyard, and they continued hosting parties until the pandemic forced them to pivot and start a drive-thru pantry, according to Moore.
Since 2017, Giving Thanksgiving has provided food to more than 10,000 students and raised thousands of dollars for the Basic Needs program. “It started from a place of care and love and kindness and generosity of heart, and it just evolved to be something that much bigger,” Moore said.
DeMorst also hosts cookouts, dinners and ice cream socials for students and her colleagues. She says she throws these events to foster community off-campus, and give people a chance to connect.
It’s also because she has a love for party planning, said Aurelia Rhymer, SMC alumna. Her most memorable one is the annual tree-trimming party, Rhymer said.
Rhymer is one of DeMorst’s mentees, but she says she sees their relationship as more “mom-and-daughter.” They first met in 2016 at the college and have remained close.
DeMorst helped her through her political science scholarship, assisted her with the transfer application process, and has continued being supportive as she applies for graduate school at her alma mater, UCLA, Rhymer said.
“Wendi is one of those bigger persons that affected me during my time there,” she said. “I’m really sad to see that this is what’s happening, and students are not going to have this wonderful person.”
DeMorst said she had planned to remain at Santa Monica College until 2031 but will retire in June. The board formally approved her retirement at its April 7 meeting, with her final day set for June 30.
She chose to be photographed under a ficus tree in front of the college’s library because it was on campus long before her and it’ll be there way after she’s gone, DeMorst said.
“I am always rooting for the students,” she said. “No matter what happens, I hope that SMC can continue to keep the students as the main focus.”