University of Alaska faculty sign petition to rescind anti-DEI policy

The union representing faculty at the University of Alaska, United Academics, sent a letter signed by 356 union members to the Board of Regents asking for the board to rescind a motion that directed the university to make changes to diversity, equity and inclusion — known as DEI.

The letter, sent on March 10, stated, “We ask that you rescind this motion and instead seek input from your stakeholders while the legality of federal directives is determined in federal court.”

“We are concerned that this action by the board has caused alarm and fear among faculty, staff, and students.”

‍According to reporting by The Northern Light, the University of Alaska Board of Regents directed university leadership to remove the terms “diversity,” “equity” and “inclusion” from university communications. 

The board also directed changes to department names and position titles and the removal of “other associated terms” related to DEI. 

According to the Alaska Beacon the Board of Regents chair, Ralph Seekins, said the board was responding to directives from the federal government and concerns of losing federal funding. 

Seekins said 20% of university funding comes from the federal government, according to the article. 

Ryan Harrod is the UAA organizational vice-president for United Academics. He spoke with The Northern Light in an interview about the letter.

Harrod represents the faculty at UAA for United Academics and is a professor of biological anthropology. 

Harrod said he was at the meeting with other United Academic representatives on Feb. 21 when the Board of Regents passed the motion. 

‍According to reporting by The Northern Light, the motion was not on the agenda and participants did not have access to the motion’s text prior to being passed. 

“A lot of people were shocked … We didn’t know it was coming,” Harrod said, “We immediately decided we had to have a response.”  

The union decided to send a letter. 

Harrod said they allowed union members to sign on to have a more robust response to the motion. 

Faculty were able to add their names to the letter by signing an online form. Harrod said the union went through and removed nonunion member signatures and duplicate signatures. 

He said responding to policy changes that impact faculty are a part of United Academics' responsibilities and that making a statement was important for future contract negotiations. 

A concern that Harrod has heard about from faculty is related to academic freedom. 

The union letter stated: “In our view, this directive was premature, rushed, overly broad, and difficult to interpret. More importantly, it threatens our academic freedom.”

The Board of Regents’ motion recognized academic freedom, but Harrod said there have been requests from administration for professors to make changes to courses.

‍According to an article in KTOO, a professor at the University of Alaska Southeast was asked to change the title of a course that included the term “DEI.”

Harrod said that he himself has studied Chinese rail workers in the early 20th century, and that it would be difficult to do the work without using certain terms. 

“It was a particular group that was diverse and there was inequity … (If) I can’t use those words, it would be hard to talk about that, right?” said Harrod.

“I get there is political stuff with what that means. Those are realities of things too.”

Another problem Harrod identified comes from the “other associated terms” related to DEI in the Board of Regents’ motion. 

Harrod asked, "What does that mean?”

He gave the example of a mathematician using the terms binary and nonbinary as words that could be accidentally identified as problematic.

Harrod said, “It’s hard when you’re banning words … I’ve been in faculty meetings. A lot of faculty are worried about academic freedom, obviously, but (also) just getting in trouble in classes for saying the wrong word.”

“If you say the word diversity are you going to get in trouble for saying diversity? But so far they have said ‘no.’”

Harrod said the term diversity can refer to many things, including age, rural communities and poverty levels, and is not necessarily related to race or ethnicity. 

He said, “I think there is a misconception of the term diversity. Diversity … is such an encompassing word. And equity is about making sure it’s equitable for everyone.”

“We just want to make sure we can recognize these things.”