Supporting data-driven equity and inclusion trainings
- President Donald Trump recently signed Executive Order 13950, which combats diversity training in the workplace, especially if it educates individuals on privilege.
- Faculty Senate passed a similar resolution the day before, according to previous reporting by The Argonaut.
- ASUI President Lauren Carlsen and UI President Scott Green sent separate emails endorsing holding difficult conversations on campus, implying support for complex equity and inclusion trainings.
- ASUI Senator Jackie Uhling argued that the executive order worked to combat an aspect of diversity training that does more harm than good, and that the Faculty Senate resolution misconstrues the objective of the executive order.
- “The students that I am on ASUI to represent and I would not want to go to a training that causes a divide between the Vandal Family,” Uhling stated.
- ASUI Vice President Joseph Garrett said training against “scapegoating and the stereotyping” are Critical Race Theory ideas, which is the executive order’s main initiative to combat.
- “I do not think we should take ideas from Critical Race Theory and implement them into our everyday workforce in regard to how we act in our professional settings,” Garrett said.
- ASUI Senator Will Jansen Van Beek shared statistical evidence of workplace bias. He cited several studies indicating hiring managers are more prone to hire a person with a white sounding name when in competition with people with Black sounding names. These studies also indicated blind auditions for hiring increased women’s chances by over 50%.
- ASUI Senator Kallyn Mai said Trump has a “…long history of racist, sexist, homophobic and elitist rhetoric.”
- After a lengthy discussion, the resolution, F20-R05, passed with an 8-4 vote.
Off-campus housing resource for students
- Connor Dahlquist, ASUI Director of Community Relations, wrote a resolution sponsored by Senator Mai which aims to create a partnership with CollegePads to “…provide another resource that can alleviate some of the day-to-day stress of finding a house or finding somewhere to live,” Mai said.
- The resolution, F20-R06, passed unanimously.
Commending state legislators on the higher education legislative Report Card Honor Roll
- Carlsen and Kate Hettinga, ASUI Director of Legislative Affairs, wrote a resolution which aims to acknowledge legislators and leaders in Idaho who prioritize higher education.
- The resolution was commended for being well constructed and non-partisan.
- The resolution, F20-R07 passed unanimously.
Carter Kolpitcke can be reached at [email protected].