UAA's Department of Writing resides in the Administration Humanities Building. Photo by Taylor Heckart.
The Board of Regents passed a motion on Feb. 21 requiring all University of Alaska campuses to remove public-facing DEI-related language.
The Northern Light interviewed UAA writing professor Toby Widdicombe about the assessment and removal of DEI-related language. Widdicombe has been a professor for 33 years.
Widdicombe said DEI is a continuation of the 1960s civil rights movement and is valuable to have in the curriculum.
Widdicombe said, “So I was a little surprised, obviously, that the Board of Regents chose to agree to the government’s request order.”
Widdicombe said he was unsure if there was discussion before the motion’s approval and if the motion was listed on the meeting agenda.
The motion was created in executive session and passage was not on the agenda, according to previous reporting by The Northern Light.
Widdicombe questioned the administration’s decisions on banning DEI-related language. Widdicombe said the Trump administration considers DEI "abhorrent," and he doesn't understand why.
Widdicombe said he understood the board’s position, as the threat of losing federal grants could prove difficult for UAA to handle.
Although Widdicombe understood the decision, he said, “I wish they’d been less hasty.”
He said there was no value in making the decision so quickly, as it unsettled staff, faculty and students.
“The federal government wanted to see how much protest would be directed at something which is important, but not significant enough to change political policy,” said Widdicombe.
Widdicombe said he believed the motion passed by the Board of Regents was a reflection of a broader issue within the board.
He said while members of the board are upstanding business people, he would like to see members with more understanding of the university and no one should serve more than four years.
He said while members are qualified, Governor Dunleavy chose political appointees. Widdicombe added that he would like to see a difference in the hiring process of board members and to amend the educational qualifications to be a member of the board.
.jpg)
