The University of Alaska Board of Regents’ surprise decision to preemptively erase mentions of diversity, equity, inclusion, and, in some cases, Alaska Native people from its communications at its February meeting isn’t sitting particularly well with legislators.
At a confirmation hearing for Regent Karen Perdue, who did not participate in the February meeting, and Regent Christine Resler, who did, legislators questioned the the decision’s impact on the independence of the university system, the betrayal of long-held values of diversity in higher education and the ethics of doing so with zero public notice.
The motion to self-censor terms like “diversity” was pushed by the board’s most conservative regents in response to the Trump administration’s strongarming of universities as part of his anti-DEI platform. While some states have faced explicit threats over federal funding, it appears the Board of Regents was acting preemptively.
Committee Chair Sen. Löki Tobin (D-Anchorage) opened the hearings by sharing her love of the University of Alaska system, where she is currently pursuing a PhD. She said the previous values of the system of honoring the state’s diversity and indigenous knowledge have been meaningful and part of why she’s dedicated 5% of her will to the university.
She said, however, that the recent changes at the university have betrayed many of those values and shaken her support for the system, causing her to question the system’s independence.
“Unfortunately, I have had my faith shaken over the last few weeks. It has been deeply shaken,” she said. “I know many of my fellow colleagues and fellow students are feeling similar. We are feeling unheard, we are feeling unseeen. … I want you to know that there are people like me who care very deeply about this institution that you are there to protect and defend, not just from things that are happening in Washington but also from all of the terrible things that impede academic freedom, research integrity and ensure that people are able to collect information in a way that actually gets the right research into the hands of people who can really make a difference.”
The directive didn’t come up much during the hearing for Regent Perdue, who was not at the meeting where the vote was taken, but it did focus heavily during the questioning of Regent Resler, who voted in support of the resolution. She claimed that she was also surprised by the resolution but that “I’d rather look to the future than the past.”
“We had a difficult decision before us,” she said, adding that as an employee of an Alaska Native corporation, she really takes Alaska Native education seriously. “It happened very suddenly, and we were trying to do the right thing. I stand by us trying to do the right thing.”
As part of the broader purge of DEI from the University of Alaska, they dropped “Alaska Native” from the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program.
She also conceded that she was not familiar with the state’s executive ethics act and its requirements for public notice. The Board of Regents has also faced scrutiny over the lack of public notice or input allowed on the measure, though it appears that it was technically operating within the law.
Some of the sharpest questioning came from Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, who said the measure appeared to be a complete supplication to the federal government. Rather than diving into the specifics of Trump’s attacks on diversity — he never specifically mentioned Trump — he worried that the university was voluntarily ceding its independence to the federal government.
“It absolutely toadies to the federal government. Toadies, bootlicks, rolls over and submissively wets,” he said. “It doesn’t just say we’re going to follow the U.S. Constitution or federal law, it says any guidance, any executive order or any guidance on executive orders that come out of the federal government — anything from the U.S. Department of Education on Maryland Avenue in Washington, D.C. — is the law of the University of Alaska system.”
On Bluesky, he later clarified that he was broadly concerned about federal overreach in the state of Alaska. He said he’d be similarly worried if leftists were also reaching into higher education through the federal government in such a far-reaching manner.
“Is there any red line at all?” he asked.
Resler gave a meandering answer about a “very dynamic environment” and their intention to “support the students,” which didn’t provide any meaningful clarity, and Kiehl was quick to point that out.
Is she willing to protect students and faculty, he asked, or is she prioritizing the dollar?
“I think there’s a balance,” she finally responded. “The regents will look to find the right balance. I think there are a lot of unknowns right now, and we will look forward, and I think going forward that we will be sure we are comfortable as a board with what’s right, and what the students and faculty find important is definitely important to us and important to me.”
Legislators will have an opportunity to vote on Perdue and Resler’s confirmation at a joint confirmation hearing later this legislative session. They will need a majority of votes to be confirmed.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
