Student government members discuss response to Board of Regents’ anti-DEI motion

UAA’s student government, known as USUAA, passed a resolution on Feb. 28 opposing an anti-DEI motion passed by the University of Alaska Board of Regents, according to reporting by The Northern Light. 

The Board of Regents banned the terms “diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion” and “other associated terms” from university communications, department names and position titles. 

USUAA President Eisa Chang and Senator Arel Gutierrez talked in an interview with The Northern Light about the USUAA resolution, which called on the board to rescind the motion. 

Chang said that students are “scared and angry” about what is happening.  

She said, “We all know it starts with language … If they can take one piece of language away, that means we can tolerate further things being changed.”

Gutierrez said that students are not happy about the changes. 

He said, “The student body doesn’t want this ban, whatsoever, and all we ask is for it to be uplifted or halted.”

“We have many clubs, programs all supporting some specific group that might get taken down just because it includes diversity or inclusivity.”

‍According to a communication sent March 17 from the University of Alaska president, “Student clubs are not impacted by the Board's motion, and student clubs will continue to be able to represent themselves as they see fit on university websites and portals.”

Chang said her biggest concern is the Multicultural Center, the Pride Center and TRIO. “Those are, in reality, offering what is supposed to build diversity, build inclusion, and build equity,” she said. 

“Now we’ve removed the language, how is that going to do with them promoting their program?”

Gutierrez is a part of the Student Coalition, which was recently in Juneau advocating with state representatives for the university system.

He said, “When we met with the representatives, we originally planned to not talk at all about DEI. But they were the ones who kept bringing it up because they wanted to hear our concerns.”

Chang said they want more transparency in how the Board of Regents made their decision and to know why the student opinion was not considered. 

According to reporting by The Northern Light, the Board of Regents’ anti-DEI motion was not on the agenda, and participants didn’t get a copy of the motion until it was passed. 

Chang said she learned about the motion after receiving a message from the student regent, Albiona Selemi, who has a seat on the Board of Regents.

Selemi was the only member of the Board of Regents who voted against the motion. 

Gutierrez said “This isn’t just trying to ban so-called discrimination; it’s rather trying to silence people’s freedom of expression.” 

He said “It’s not just pigments being impacted by this, it’s any type of social group, including religions, disabilities, veterans. Because anything that makes you different or benefits you alone is considered discrimination by the DEI ban.”

Chang said, “My term with student government is about to finish … I would invite students to keep this momentum going … to join us and to make change.”