The Associated Students of the University of Arizona Senate hosted an event on Wednesday, Feb. 26 to help students understand recent executive orders issued by President Trump.
The College of Science Senator Arjun Phull presented on federal policy initiatives and their potential impact on the UA campus, focusing on two key issues: diversity, equity and inclusion and immigration.
Phull opened the forum by reading the UA’s land acknowledgment statement but retained the language of “diversity, equity and inclusion,” which has been removed from the previous version.
Phull then outlined a timeline of changes in DEI policy throughout the Trump administration. He explained that early executive orders mandated the termination of DEI practices within the federal government, which then extended to the public sector.
A couple weeks after these orders, the Department of Education released a Dear Colleague letter which declared DEI programs to be unconstitutional. This gave educational institutions 14 days to audit their current programs in compliance with an anti-DEI policy or risk losing federal funding. The letter characterized DEI practices as forms of “overt and covert” racial discrimination and therefore deemed them illegal under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Phull described the letter’s wording as “vague and intended to be an umbrella for admissions, hiring, promotions, compensations, financial aid and student life on campus.”
Phull said that in response to that letter, the UA closed its Office of Diversity and Inclusion and quietly dropped the phrase “committed to diversity and inclusion” from its land acknowledgment. However, he clarified that there was no overarching rule preventing student organizations on campus from using this language, it was simply taken out of any official mentions.
The UA has been hesitant in publicly announcing its actions, but Phull cited the university’s stance that the land acknowledgment revision “did not change its unwavering commitment to the land grant mission or providing access to a world class education for Native and all students.”
Phull directed students to the Office of the Provost’s Updates on the Federal Landscape site for official university policy updates.
When asked how changes in federal policy would impact cultural resource centers, Phull said it was his understanding that they would fall under the university’s larger inventory and audit of current programs.
Phull then shifted to changing immigration policies, outlining recent actions from the Department of Homeland Security. On Jan. 20, a directive rescinded a previous memorandum that had designated college campuses as protected areas from immigration enforcement.
Phull explained that two to three weeks after this directive, with the launch of the federal landscape site, the UA included a section regarding student records and information disclosure, with a broad overview of how to handle situations with law enforcement. The site, however, was careful to not specifically mention immigration.
“I want to be abundantly clear with my words here, because this is a source of a lot of confusion under current federal policy. The University of Arizona, being a public institution on a public campus, is no longer considered a protected space, which means that under DHS, ICE and federal policy, immigration enforcement officers have been allowed and directed to freely conduct operations on campus,” Phull said.
Phull said that students needed to know the difference between private and public areas on campus. While public areas like the campus mall are open to enforcement, private areas like dorms and classrooms should remain off-limits.
A Zoom recording and presentation materials will be available on the ASUA website in the coming days. Phull added that the event was purely informational for students and did not reflect any position of the university.
College of Law Senator Joshua Jaiyeola clarified that ASUA is “nonpartisan, typically, but some things aren’t even about parties, it’s about the students.”
Overall, the changing nature of federal policy leads students to a lot of uncertainty. It is a very large grey area right now that everyone, including the university, is trying to navigate. Senators said that this is why it is essential for students to stay informed on current university policies by regularly checking for updates on the Office of the Provost website.
Follow the Daily Wildcat on Instagram and Twitter/X
