Photo by Sage R. Robbins.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — DEI — developments are changing daily, The Northern Light interviewed UAA staff and faculty about their perspectives on DEI.
The Northern Light spoke with Community and Belonging leader Aidan Jackson regarding her thoughts on the situation.
Community and Belonging, formerly the Multicultural Center, was renamed over four months ago. According to Sara Caldwell-Kan, the director of Community and Belonging, the title change was unrelated to the Board of Regents’ motion.
However, the department’s documents, flyers and website have since had DEI language removed due to the removal of DEI language at University of Alaska campuses.
Jackson said they can still use DEI language in conversation but are prohibited from publishing any DEI-related language.
Jackson doesn’t believe anything else will change at Community and Belonging; however, the situation continues to develop.
She said she doesn’t see any events being prohibited or the department being shut down.
Jackson believes that DEI is often misinterpreted as a trigger word for a specific group of people.
“It can be like a trigger word for people where when they think diversity they think people of color. They don't think white people, they don't think people of fair skin. They think everybody else,” she said.
Jackson said, “It creates this division of people thinking ‘oh well I don’t look like that so I guess I don’t matter.’ So I think there’s just misunderstandings on what Diversity, Equity and Inclusion can look like and why it’s so important.”
Jackson does not believe that the UAA community will be as inclusive or diverse without written DEI practices. “It’s in all these publications, but it’s also in your syllabus, in all your classes, the things we teach and learn. It's in the way we interact with each other,” said Jackson.
“Our campus is very diverse in age, religion, nationality, culture, everything. And when that language is erased, it can feel like the people are also being erased,” she said.
Professor of library science Deborah Mole takes pride in being part of UAA’s diverse community. She said she believes that DEI is often misinterpreted as only a gender category. She sees this specifically through people’s religious paradigms or the media they consume.
Mole said, “Diversity, equity and inclusion, to me, means we all are welcome, treated equally, and that we intentionally make an effort to equally provide opportunities at the university for all to learn, participate and ideally, thrive.”
Mole said she believes the UAA community will continue to welcome and respect all kinds of people.
She recommended two books that describe communities dealing with a similar circumstance, which may help readers reflect on the power of words. Mole recommends “Ella Minnow Pea” by Mark Dunn and Lulu Dean's “Little Library of Banned Books” by Kirsten Miller.
This report is part of an investigative series on recent changes related to DEI at UAA and will be followed by additional coverage.
A previous version of this article incorrectly reported that the Department of Community and Belonging changed because of the Board of Regents’ motion. The department’s name change occurred before the Board of Regents’ motion.
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