Students rushed between classes on a late September day at the University of Wyoming. Some sported jackets or hoodies to stave off the morning cold, but many were down to T-shirts as the sun warmed the air.
The calm on campus belied the controversies swirling around Wyoming’s lone four-year university. This winter, hard-line Wyoming lawmakers took aim at multiple university programs that they considered divisive or out of step with the state’s politics. That ultimately led to the closure of the school’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the conversion of the Multicultural Affairs Office into the Pokes Center for Community Resources.
WyoFile talked to a few dozen students to gauge their reaction to the changes and the university’s handling of the situation. The vast majority either didn’t know about the changes, didn’t feel personally impacted or said they didn’t know enough to comment. The few who did talk focused more on their experience outside those spaces.
Allison Bromley, a sophomore studying double elementary and special education, said she appreciated the emails and regular communication from the university on actions it’s taking.
Freshman J.P. Spilotro noted that he appreciates the diversity on campus, though it’s different from his home in Arizona. He also felt UW is supporting diversity at the right level.
“As far as diversity, equity, inclusion, I feel like things are pretty good here,” he said.
Alex Huss, a junior who’s studying zoology, felt that DEI resources for students have never been particularly easy to find, and that — even once students discovered those spaces — it could feel like only certain people belonged.
It’s not surprising that many of the students walking across campus weren’t aware of changes involving the Multicultural Affairs or DEI offices. Only a fraction of students likely utilized those services.
Still, there are off-campus efforts to find new ways to support those who may feel less welcome at UW following the changes.
Targeting DEI
During this year’s budget session, the Legislature cut UW’s biannual block grant by the same amount the university spent on the DEI Office. Lawmakers also forbid the university from spending state dollars on DEI efforts, though they didn’t define what that meant. The state is UW’s largest funding source.
In the wake of those decisions, the UW Board of Trustees voted to shutter the DEI office while attempting to retain many of its programs and all staff, arguing that most of what happened there didn’t involve the exclusionary behaviors lawmakers sought to root out. That included complying with federal regulations including the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Still, university President Ed Seidel said there would be ongoing reviews of programs across campus to make sure they don’t discriminate or exclude, which would make them ineligible for state funds.
In August, the university announced that it would be refashioning the decades-old Office Of Multicultural Affairs into the Poke Resource Center, changing job descriptions of people working there. It also transitioned the Poke Pride Center into a clothing and resources closet.
As of Sept. 19, Seidel said he wasn’t aware of additional program changes to come from DEI reviews, beyond those already mentioned.
Restoring resources
Just a few blocks from UW’s campus is the nonprofit Laramie Plains Civic Center. It’s a large, historic school building now home to dozens of offices and community spaces, along with a coffee shop.
Executive Director Jessica Brauer has led community discussions on what’s needed in Laramie in lieu of the DEI and Multicultural Affairs office closures.
“Our mission as an organization is to just serve as a gathering place for the community at large, and to provide safe and accessible space for people to gather and connect with one another and hopefully grow from those connections,” she said.
There’s still considerable confusion about the changes, according to Brauer. That includes who to blame for UW’s office closures, exactly what resources still exist and what’s needed next for those who used those offices previously.
Still, the community sessions at the civic center highlighted some specific needs, Brauer said, and many are continuing to discuss how to establish a space for students to feel welcome if they no longer feel that way at UW. That may range from LGBTQ+ to international to Native students, she said.
“How do we protect these people, but also, how do we keep our jobs while we do that?”
Jessica Brauer, Laramie Plains Civic Center
“The teams that work with those folks, for those folks, I think a lot of them feel like they no longer can support the people that they want to support,” she said. “How do we protect these people, but also, how do we keep our jobs while we do that?”
The civic center has faced its own challenges with making groups in the community feel welcome, including having its pride flags stolen.
“I perhaps naively hung these pride flags thinking, ‘Oh, the community knows that everybody’s welcome here,’” Brauer said.
The queer population is part of the fabric of Laramie and her facility, she said, “and not only are they welcome here, but they make it better.”
“And so I think when those flags started getting removed routinely, I was really surprised and disappointed,” she said. “I think it points to just a larger hatred that’s happening in the community, in the state, in the nation.”
Many pride flags were held high Saturday during the University of Wyoming homecoming parade, where groups including Laramie PrideFest, Shepard Symposium on Social Justice, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ and PFLAG Laramie all marched together. Part of the reason the groups joined up was to demonstrate support for those who feel less welcome amid the rise in anti-gay animus in Wyoming, according to PFLAG Laramie President Katie Morgan.
PFLAG is the largest and oldest LGBTQ+ ally organization in the country, Morgan said, and in Laramie, most members are UW alumni.
Morgan has seen firsthand what it means for society to turn its back on its LGBTQ+ members, as critics of the changes allege. Her first husband came out to her when he was diagnosed with AIDS, from which he later died. For her, the local PFLAG group was supportive and helpful. She later worked with AIDS care in Texas and Colorado.
“I saw firsthand what discrimination and what misunderstanding and lack of education can do to a community,” she said.
There was a young student from the University of Wyoming, who was tied to a fence post, tortured and left to die. With these new laws supporting this kind of hate we will soon see more young people tied to fence posts, because of who they are. and the people in power who write these laws are in support of this kind of hate and violence. Has Wyoming already forgotten about Matthew Shepard.
As a Christian, I find the ever-changing “pride” flag offensive and it goes against my values. So if that ideology is being promoted on campus by the university but my Christian one cannot receive the same support at the same public university, say an “Office of Christian Outreach” adorned with crosses, that is inherently unfair. In other words, not very “inclusive.” This may be old school, but I thought the point of a university was to educate but it seems many are willing to support an agenda. I’d suggest striving for academic excellence and increasing the U’s reputation in that arena to increase its marketability and admissions rather than have offices of pandering.
Perhaps the radical legislature’s meddling in the DEI services offered at UW as well as their writing critical letters to UW’s President about playing a game against a trans player and the legislature insistence of eliminating gun free zone on campus has become the leading cause of UW’s decline in enrollment. The university sure doesn’t sound very welcoming. It’s a very sad day for our university.
Lee Ann. Number 1 cause of down turn in enrollment is simply not enough college age kids. Kid population has been dropping nationwide. Families are not that big anymore. Plus liberals don’t want to admit the truth but abortion has taken a toll as well. So quit blaming state policy for downturn. Our birth rates are not keeping up. It that simple
It’s heartbreaking that our legislators have no grasp of the word ‘equality’, especially because it’s on our flag! We are the Equality State, and it’s damn time we act like it.
Equality is not equity. You should learn the difference. Equity picks winners and losers and attempts to make all outcomes the same. This destroys individuality. Equality means equal opportunity to succeed according to your abilities not ensuring everyone is equally successful.
When the legislature passed the DEI bill they did it based on rumor and innuendo instead of studying what services were being provided by that office. I “loved” watching the gossipy men and women elected to make necessary laws pass legislation based on fear.
Now the student that realized DEI spaces were often places of exclusion has been a refrain I see mentioned; even when ignored by those reporting about these designated spaces as he opined “it could feel like only certain people belonged.”
I have found the University just soldiered on making changes that allowed students to come together without needing the DEI office. While Saddle Up was controversial during its inaugural season, the program worked and is continuing to pay dividends.
For example, I was at the University on Wednesday and when a Prexy Pasture’s preacher verbally attacked two young women based on the so called word of god, the students rallied to support them. The University is a far better place and houses far better humans than those that the Wyoming electorate saw fit to elect to the State Legislature. The world needs more Wyoming youth and less loud mouths from Lingle.