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SALT LAKE CITY — HB261, the controversial measure calling for a revamping of diversity, equity and inclusion programming at Utah's universities, will undoubtedly entail a measure of pain and discomfort, says the official helping craft the change.
"To the extent that those changes need to be made, we're making them and some of them will be significant and some people's jobs will change and that's going to be difficult," Geoffrey Landward, Utah commissioner of higher education, said Wednesday. "So this is not an easy transition. This will hurt, and it will have an impact."
Nevertheless, Landward, addressing an education forum organized by the NAACP Salt Lake Branch, also expressed confidence change is possible — that doesn't take away from the students who most need help. Significantly, he said, Utah lawmakers didn't cut funding in approving HB261, as has occurred with legislation in other states targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, a focus of hot debate all across the country.
"It's not about taking resources away. It's just about making sure that they're not restricted to any one certain group. We can do that," said Landward, who's working with representatives from Utah's public universities in crafting change to comply with HB261. "And we can do that in a way that still helps us target those who are most at risk. And I think we can work within this and make it successful, but it does require some changes and I think we're in a good position in Utah, if we do it the right way."
HB261, sponsored by Rep. Katy Hall, a South Ogden Republican, passed quickly and with overwhelming support in Utah's GOP-controlled House and Senate during the legislative session earlier this year. Diversity programming is typically meant to help students of color and other traditionally marginalized population groups thrive in college. But such initiatives have faced criticism from some Utah lawmakers and conservative officials around the country who say they should instead be broadened to all students in need, regardless of identifiers like race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity.
Jeanetta Williams, president of the NAACP Salt Lake Branch, said her aim in putting the focus on HB261 for part of Wednesday's forum was to get a better understanding of the measure and its potential impact. Though the bill's backers say it aims to broaden the pool of people who can tap into programming designed to help students make it through college, critics see measures targeting diversity programming as backward moves in the fight for civil rights. The small contingent of Democrats in the Utah House and Senate vociferously opposed HB261.
"We just want to have a clearer focus on the bill," Williams said.
'A chilling effect'
Significantly, in negotiating details of HB261, Landward said education officials successfully pressed to retain funding allocated for diversity, equity and inclusion programming. That, he said, stands in contrast to more restrictive measures adopted in states like Florida and Texas.
"There wasn't a cut to budgets and a requirement to shut down offices," Landward said.
Funds will have to support programming for a broader range of students. But even to that point, Landward said officials at Utah's universities have never intended to restrict, based on personal identity characteristics, those who need extra help because, say, they're first-generation students or come from a low socioeconomic background. "None of our interventions have ever been restricted to any one population. They've always been intended to address barriers, not a population, knowing that those barriers oftentimes impact certain populations for various reasons," he said.
That said, some programs, he acknowledged, are offered "in a way that gives the perception that they're only available to certain populations or groups." Universities will have to "pivot" and "adjust" in response to HB261.
"But we've made it very clear, both in public and in private, that we're unwavering in this commitment to increase access (to college) and to increase completion, and that means we have to target where we see the barriers preventing those things from happening," Landward said.
Changes to comply with HB261 need to be implemented at Utah's public universities — including the University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University, Salt Lake Community College and other institutions — by July 1. Efforts to create new guidelines continue, but Landward offered a few insights into the sort of change that may be in the offing.
Tutoring programs associated with centers geared to Latino or Black students, for instance, may be impacted. HB261 "requires us to pivot away from that," he said.
Likewise, cultural centers geared to certain students based on ethnicity or other personal identifiers may have to change. "We're still working through what it means for cultural centers in general. Publicly they said that those don't go away, but it's not as simple as that. They've got to pivot the purpose of those centers. Those centers have to become more educational, less about student services, resources," he said.
Beyond complying with the specific particulars of HB261, higher education officials will also have to address ripple effects among those who may have been left unnerved by the red-hot debate on the issue.
"The message of the law has an impact, obviously, on the community and on the students, and to the extent that that has a chilling effect on students being willing to come to our institutions, we have to address that," he said.
