Regent Sviggum's Remarks on Diversity
At the October 2022 Board of Regents meeting, Vice Chair Steve Sviggum asked if the UMN Morris campus is becoming "too diverse". These questions were raised due to hearing from his friends that their children didn't feel comfortable attending the institution due to it being too diverse- he asked this to clarify if that could be a reason for the declining enrollment numbers. 41% of the student body at Morris is classified as BIPOC, a stark contrast to the surrounding city of Morris where only 13% of citizens are BIPOC. Ironically, the Morris campus is situated on original Ojibwe and Sioux homelands and was originally founded in 1887 as a Native American boarding school.
Timeline of Sviggum's Remarks:
October 13, 2022: Regent Sviggum asks if its possible if UMN-Morris is "too diverse". Full thread with the video recording and live responses are linked here
October 16, 2022: KSTP reported on Sviggum's comments
October 17, 2022: WCCO Radio held an interview with Regent Sviggum- he doubled down on the comments
October 17, 2022: Star Tribune reported on Sviggum's comments
October 17, 2022: Chair Powell releases a statement in regard to Sviggum's comments, but fails to condemn them.
October 17, 2022: The UMN Teamsters Union released a statement in regard to Sviggum's comments
October 17, 2022: Undergraduate Student President of UMN-Morris released a statement in response to Regent Sviggum's comments
October 18, 2022: Inside HigherEd covered Sviggum's comments
October 18, 2022: Regent Farnsworth was interviewed by WCCO Radio regarding Sviggum's comments
October 18, 2022: Regent Sviggum participates in an interview with WCCO Radio, pointed questions were asked, and Sviggum stated he is not resigning from the Board of Regents.
October 19, 2022: Regent Sviggum undermines his own apologies in an interview to Alpha News, states the "woke community" took his question and jumped on it
October 20, 2022: Regent Kenyanya released a statement in response to Sviggum's comments
October 25, 2022: Hennepin County Commissioner Irene Fernando released a statement in response to Sviggum's comments, and called for action to be taken.
October 25, 2022: Regent Sviggum resigned his seat as Vice Chair of the Board of Regents
November 4, 2022: Regent Sviggum announces he will not be seeking re-election to the Board of Regents.