Fifty-Four University Of Alaska Professors Publicly Stand Up For Native Rights, Free Speech & Diversity

 

The Festival Of Native Arts, at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, celebrating 
Native culture & diversity. (Photo by the Country Journal, from the archives)

UA professors oppose banned words and defend free speech and cultural diversity

FROM THE ALASKA BEACON. 

opinion piece: X'UNEI LANCE TWITCHELL JENNIFER CARROLL

APRIL 18, 2026 

 Statue of Charles Bunnell, founder of the University of Alaska, at the UAF campus. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

In February 2025, to the shock of University of Alaska faculty, staff and students, the University of Alaska Board of Regents passed a motion that banned the use of the words “DEI,” “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion,” reversing decades of work by the universities to better serve Alaska and its diverse population. The decision forced staff to review all UA websites and other electronic or print material and remove those words from previously developed materials. The mandate was a reaction to a 2025 “Dear Colleague” letter from the U.S. Department of Education, which threatened to end funding at any institution that continued to use the words. 

In the weeks following the passage of the BOR’s anti-DEI motion, the faculty union, United Academics, and faculty senates from all three campuses responded by passing statements and circulating a petition in opposition to the censorship and in defense of free speech and academic freedom.

Dear Colleague letters do not carry the force of law and this one was immediately challenged in court. In August of 2025, a federal court judge determined the Dear Colleague letter was illegal. The Federal Government withdrew its appeal of that ruling in February and the judge vacated the letter, making it unenforceable. Yet the UA BOR’s motion still stands, violating not only the U.S. Constitution but also the Constitution of the State of Alaska and the Board of Regents policy P04.04.010 on Academic Freedom. 

The anti-diversity motion the BOR passed was an illegal attempt to limit free speech and academic freedom and to censor words based on political ideology. It also directly contradicts the mission statement of the University of Alaska, which specifically supports the state’s diversity: The University of Alaska inspires learning, and advances and disseminates knowledge through teaching, research, and public service, emphasizing the North and its diverse peoples.

The Board of Regents’ action has compromised not only the reputation of the entire University of Alaska as a place of learning and exploring systems of knowledge, but has also made our campuses feel less welcoming and less safe. It goes against specific protections established by the Civil Rights Act to create pathways to success for marginalized peoples. In one motion, the Board of Regents engaged in illegal censorship and violated its own mission.

We should be cognizant of Alaska’s colonial history that required assimilation in education, including the banning of Alaska Native languages and customs. If we now prohibit the very word diversity, we engage in a new form of forced homogeneity and exclusion. The University cannot say it is embracing its mission and values while simultaneously banning words that focus specifically on inclusion in education. The University cannot ban words while also claiming to value academic freedom.

Faculty and students waste precious time and energy deciding when to stand fast, how to “say it in a different way,” and when to adapt without compromising academic integrity. It affects the words we use when teaching, even if only to stop and second-guess ourselves. The writing is on the wall. Or, rather, the words are no longer on the websites, in the office names, promotion files or job descriptions. This illegal and uninformed censorship won’t stop without a course correction.

As faculty, we expect our students to be informed by research and accurate, provable information. We expect them to be straightforward in their work and to rely on open exploration of topics based on logic, history, critical thinking and diverse ways of knowing. We therefore cannot accept the motion of the Board of Regents.

As educators and researchers at UA, we have no desire to wade into politics. We want to teach, create and research in our areas of expertise. But we feel compelled to speak against the censorship of words and ideas, which is antithetical to the University of Alaska’s mission and the needs of a democratic and free society. It is past time for the UA Board of Regents to rescind their illegal, harmful motion.

As faculty at the University of Alaska, we expect better, and we can do better. We seek an end to this era of censorship and word banning that unnecessarily brings the university into disrepute and demonstrates a neglect of duty by violating the constitutions of the United States and the State of Alaska, not to mention their own policy and mission statement. We owe it to the current and future students to champion and uphold academic freedom, freedom of speech, and an educational system that is welcoming of all peoples without forcing them to assimilate to reduced identities.

Co-signed: Abel Bult-Ito, Anna Berge, Falk Huettmann, Debu Misra, Jak Maier, Sam Alexander, Jennifer Bernard, Iver Arnegard, Maria Williams, Pete Praetorius, Heather Batchelder, Robin Shoaps, Patrick Marlow, Jackie Cason, LaVerne Xilegg Demientieff, Diane McEachern, Michael Navarro, Chris Coffman, Leslie McCartney, Javier Fochesatto, Retchenda George-Bettisworth, Dave Evans, Connie Fuess, Seta Kabranian-Melkonian, Bettina Kipp Lavea, David P. Moxley, Micah Muer, Tim Hinterberger, Zoë Jones, Margaret Short, Sarah Dexter, Jamie Smith, Jessica Ross , Yvonne Chase, Maya Salganek, Deb Mole, Rachel Graham, Da-ka-xeen Mehner, Charleen Daazhraįį Fisher, Jonas Lamb, David Cox II, Eldri Waid Westmoreland, Loraliee Heagy, Mary Wegner, Kathleen Nevis, Deidre Berberich, Forest Haven, Andrea Dewees, Glenn Wright, Jay Szczepanski II, Carol Gray, Angie Goffredi, Rally Wolford, Éedaa Heather Burge