Photo: View from behind Mourant Building (Credit: Rosemarie Alexander)

By Ellie Ruel

UAS Chancellor Aparna Palmer said the university remains committed to academic freedom and freedom of expression, despite the UA Board of Regents’ action in February to remove DEI language from university websites and printed materials.

Palmer repeated the commitment during a virtual town hall held on March 21 in response to the Regents’ motion amid Trump administration threats to cut funds to universities that do not comply with federal action. 

Questions to Palmer ranged from grants and Alaska Native Studies to future federal action and student aid. The chancellor said what happens next is unclear, but the university will handle any issues that arise in the most straightforward way possible, relying on its legal team to figure out “gray areas.” 

In a follow-up interview with Whalesong, Palmer addressed the wide range of UAS reactions to the motion.

“Students, faculty, and staff are very diverse in their views. And so, some of them are very comfortable with the motion and with the executive actions. Some of them are more neutral. A lot of them are feeling really frustrated, some are angry, some are sad about the motion,” she said.

Palmer said UAS will maintain its commitment to academic freedom, and continue to support “Alaska native heritage, culture, art, language, and especially Alaska Native programs.” 

Two UAS web pages have been changed or removed since the BOR’s motion regarding DEI. The Office of Equity and Compliance has been renamed the Office of Rights, Compliance, and Accountability (ORCA), and its responsibilities will remain the same. The UAS Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Cultural Safety (DEICS) website has been temporarily removed. According to Palmer, DEICS committee members will decide how to proceed during an upcoming retreat. 

The rest of the website changes will be influenced by a newly formed shared governance committee. Palmer said she wants staff and faculty, as well as students, to have some say in the direction the university takes in editing its materials.

“I feel like it’s of utmost importance that we get those recommendations from them. And I think everyone has said that they feel comfortable getting that, rather than having to do it themselves, that a group of people is evaluating it,” she said.

The estimated timeline for the edits is the end of the spring semester.

Going forward, she said, the UA legal team is watching the news coming out of Washington, D.C. 

“There are going to be some gray areas,” Palmer said. “There are some areas where we won’t know what to do, and that’s where we ask our University of Alaska legal team to help us.” 

At the time, the Board of Regents said its action to remove DEI language from university websites and other materials was focused on preserving federal funding for the entire UA system. In fiscal year 2024, about 7.5% of UAS revenue came from federal funds, with $3.3 million going toward student aid like Pell grants.

“We really don’t want to lose federal funding. That supports our students and supports our faculty and our staff and so many programs,” Palmer said. “We don’t want to be targeted for that.”

She said the university’s federal relations team is also working with Alaska’s Congressional delegation to advocate for the UA system.

“I don’t know if I can predict exactly what actions will be taken by the administration, but what I do know is we are watching everything very, very closely and each time an action is taken, our legal team and our federal relations team look at it very closely and are very focused on giving us good guidance so that we can follow the law, but also making sure that our our representative and our senators in Washington, know what’s happening so that they can advocate for us,” she said.

At the end of the interview, the chancellor expressed continuing support for every student at UAS, regardless of policy changes. 

“Please believe in us,” she said. “Please believe that we are working as hard as we can to make sure that we continue to provide a place where everyone is accepted for who they are, that everyone feels a sense of belonging.”