U-of-M Regents vice chair under fire for question about diversity at Morris campus

Published On: October 18th, 20220.8 min readCategories: Covid-19, Featured, Latest Headlines, Local News, News

Teamsters Local 320 is calling for the resignation of U-of-M Board of Regents Vice Chair Steve Sviggum, who asked last week whether “too much diversity” factors into declining enrollment at the Morris campus.  The former Minnesota House speaker inquired, “Is it possible that at Morris we’ve become too diverse… from a marketing standpoint,” saying he received two letters from friends whose children will not be going there because they don’t feel comfortable:

“I’m on thin ice, I understand that, but at 71, 72 years old, I say things that I would never even have thought when I was 52.”

Sviggum reiterated today (Monday) that he asked a question and was not making a comment.  State Representative Heather Keeler from Moorhead tweeted Minnesota “has a robust Higher Education system leaving those 2 students who wrote you with many other options to choose.”  Others at the Capitol point out the legislature votes on members of the Board of Regents.  Sviggum’s term expires next year.

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