Photo courtesy of the Juneau Empire.
University of Alaska Board of Regents passed a motion to assess DEI language across the UA System on Feb. 21. In the following weeks, many members of the public have hosted forums to discuss the occurring changes. One such forum was the listening session hosted by Alaska State Representative Ashley Carrick.
Carrick is the representative for District 35, and represents West Fairbanks in the state house. The Northern Light interviewed Carrick to ascertain what came of the listening session, as well as her concerns for the UA system going forward.
Carrick said approximately 70 people attended the listening session via Zoom, and many were her constituents. However, there were also many in attendance from other UA main and satellite campuses.
“We had a really large breadth of different topics that came up, from faculty talking about academic freedom and the ability to teach and help sponsor student clubs, to students talking about their own experiences academically and socially,” said Carrick.
“Then staff as well, talking about how they work with students and how DEI language and initiatives really impact the work they do and the work that they potentially won't be able to do,” she said.
Carrick said the listening session was an open invitation, and it was not required that you agree with any point of view to attend.
“Folks could have come in and potentially offered support for the Board of Regents decision, but we didn’t have that, and I am not surprised that that was the case,” said Carrick.
“The response was 100% across the board in opposition to the Board of Regents decision.”
Carrick said the short term impact the Board of Regents decision is having on the UA community is fear. “The University of Alaska community in general is feeling really overwhelmed by that policy change, and I don’t know if those fears are being adequately addressed by the administration right now,” said Carrick.
Carrick said she is concerned about the university system’s finances due to the lasting impacts from the board’s decision. She said lack of DEI-related language could turn away donors.
“For example, the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program — which is open to all students — no longer having that distinction in its name and programming could have lasting consequences,” said Carrick.
Carrick said the Board of Regents' decision will shape the work that she does.
“I intend to take a close look at the UA budget, both this year and going forward, and ask questions about what the Board of Regents puts forward to the legislature,” said Carrick.
“Following this decision, the big question is, are the budget asks made by the Board of Regents reflective of the actual needs of the UA community?”
Carrick provided an example involving the Coalition of Student Leaders' visit to Juneau.
“They talked about youth mental health and student mental health on campus,” said Carrick. “They didn’t feel there were adequate in-person counseling services available, especially on satellite campuses. They offered some really constructive solutions to fix that.”
However, according to Carrick, those constructive solutions aren’t able to simply be implemented across the UA system.
“They do cost money, but they’re not currently reflected in the Board of Regents budget asks,” said Carrick. “So how can we incorporate those needs, and how are we going to support the community of students and others across the UA system?”
Carrick earned both a Bachelor’s in Psychology at UAF and a Master’s in Public Health through UAA’s distance program. She said it would be hard for her to imagine how her degrees would have looked without DEI-related language.
“We absolutely have to be able to talk about all those things in order to do any sort of work in any field, not just in the liberal arts or social sciences,” said Carrick. “Because we’re not just talking about LGBTQ+ students. We’re talking about women, we’re talking about veterans, we’re talking about people with disabilities, we’re talking about first generation college students. We’re talking about everyone.”
Carrick said she feels DEI is inclusive to everyone, and “its inclusion really helps to create the kind of campus culture that not only attracts students to the university, but attracts donors and faculty.”
While some see eliminating DEI as eliminating barriers, Carrick said “It sounds like nice buzzwords to eliminate DEI, but in reality, DEI provides a lot of great supports and additional structure that’s immensely valuable to the UA community.”
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