Hundreds of University of Arizona students lined up against barricades surrounding Old Main on Tuesday morning to protest the installation of President Suresh Garimella and demand accountability.

Students carried signs with messages including “Garimella is a liar” and chanted, “Liar, liar, pants on fire, Garimella should be fired.”

During the ceremony, Garimella was joined on stage by his presidential party, which included the mayors of Tucson, Oro Valley, and Sahuarita, as well as Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs.

"I propose we couple a sense of urgency with purpose built around three shared strategic imperatives,” Garimella said. “Access and success for every student; Research that shapes the future; And engagement with our communities to create opportunity together.”

But notably absent from the stage was Associated Students of the University of Arizona President Adriana Grijalva, who released a statement the night before saying she would skip the event.

“I can’t stand up there and talk about leadership because I don’t feel like we’re being led in the right direction,” the statement said. “As student body president, I’m supposed to be the one to speak up and represent you, and that’s why I’m choosing to stand in solidarity with you. You deserve to be heard, and I will always fight for that.”

On Tuesday morning, ASUA released an official statement saying its executive team, including the executive vice president and administrative vice president, would also skip the event.

Grijalva joined students at the protest but first stopped by a class in the School of Journalism to talk about what prompted her decision.

She said that in the days leading up to the installation, she received many messages from students urging her not to attend.

“It was a really hard decision to make. Sunday night to yesterday at 1 p.m. was one of the top stressful moments of this job,” she told students. “But I know that I am not here to please the administration. I represent the students, and if this is how students are feeling, as a leader, that’s where I wanted to be.”

Garimella ruffled feathers shortly after arriving on campus when several student groups were notified by administration that they would need to vacate their spaces in the student union to make room for office space for employees with the Office of Enrollment Management.

Impacted groups included Survivor Advocacy, the United Fraternity and Sorority Council, Cultural and Inclusive Experiential Learning Opportunities, and the Asian Pacific American Student Affairs.

The university quickly rolled back those plans after complaints about the negative impact, with more than 200 students attending a forum with Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Ronald Marx to share their concerns and discuss solutions.

During the forum, Marx said he had spoken with Garimella prior to the meeting and they had decided to pause the process.

Garimella came under fire again in January after former President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the public and private sectors.

In the months since, students have demanded answers from Garimella regarding the university’s plans for DEI initiatives. Grijalva acknowledged students’ frustration, stating that the lack of response has left many feeling overlooked.

“I think that a lot of people aren’t feeling seen or heard,” Grijalva said. “When he got here, he was very student-driven, but now I don’t think students are feeling that way at all.”

Grijalva said she was unsure how her absence from the installation would impact her relationship with Garimella or her chances of securing a second term as president. Voting for the ASUA general election kicked off Tuesday morning and will wrap up Wednesday night.

Instead of worrying, she said she was staying focused on the larger issues at hand.

“I hope that after today it shows how important the voices are on this campus,” she said. “I think there is a lot of anger and fear coming together. We are not really united right now, and I think students are feeling really disconnected.”

McKenna Manzo is a journalism major at the University of Arizona and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact her at mckennamanzo@arizona.edu.

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