Twin Cities Native American group wants Steve Sviggum removed from University of Minnesota Board of Regents immediately

A group of 25 Twin Cities American Indian organizations on Friday called for the immediate resignation of University of Minnesota Board of Regents Vice Chair Steve Sviggum because he questioned whether the Morris campus is "too diverse."

"We are not entertaining apologies in this day and age," said Joe Hobot, chairman of the Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors group (MUID), which sent the letter. "Inarticulate statements and absent-mindedness is not tolerated. Your words matter and that's why we're calling for his immediate resignation."

Reached by phone, Sviggum, who lives in Kenyon, had not seen the letter but he had a single-word response to the call for him to step down: "No."

Hobot, who is also president of American Indian Opportunities Industrialization Center, one of 25 member groups of the MUID, spoke in a phone interview. In MUID's letter to Regents Chairman Ken Powell and others, the group expressed "disgust and embarrassment regarding the openly racist and hostile remarks" by Sviggum.

Sviggum's term on the board expires next year, but the letter is the strongest backlash yet to his comments.

More than a week ago at a public meeting, Sviggum asked acting Morris Chancellor Janet Schrunk Ericksen whether it was "possible at all from a marketing standpoint" that the campus had become "too diverse."

"I've received a couple letters, two actually, from friends whose children are not going to go to Morris because it is too diverse," Sviggum said at the meeting. "They just didn't feel comfortable there."

Ericksen responded that minority students on the campus often feel isolated and that from their perspective, no, the campus would not be too diverse. On Wednesday, Sviggum apologized "unequivocally" in a letter issued by the public relations department at the University of Minnesota.

Sviggum has spent much of his adult life as a public figure. He is a former Republican speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives. He worked as the executive assistant and communications director for the state Senate GOP caucus and served as a commissioner under Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

In his apology, Sviggum said his intent was to encourage discussion about Morris enrollment, which is down 50% from its peak. "The future of this great campus depends on finding solutions to reverse that trend," he wrote.

But Hobot said Sviggum's message about fear of diversity had trickled down to students on campus. He noted that Morris draws American Indian students because of its "fantastic" Native American studies program and free tuition.

Sviggum's comments singling out the Morris campus were a "dog whistle that can't be excused away by an inarticulate selection of words."

Then there's the history of the campus. The Anishinaabe and Lakota people initially occupied the land on which it sits.

The first buildings constructed on the site were for an American Indian boarding school. The school operated from 1887 until 1909. When the school closed, the land was transferred to the state and it was stipulated that American Indian students would be able to attend tuition-free.

Hobot pointed out that campuses across the country are just beginning to reconcile with the past. "These land-grant-based institutions and university systems not only have the impetus to provide equal opportunity and access but they also need to come clean about their histories," he said.

The brutal treatment of Native American students at boarding schools has just begun to surface and It is estimated the remains of more than 100,000 tribal members are in the possession of U.S. universities. Last month, Harvard University agreed to return to their descendants the human remains of 19 individuals who were likely enslaved. In August, tribal leaders went to the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks to collect the remains of ancestors.

MUID's letter said there's no place on the university's board for someone who "considers diverse campuses a detriment" especially at Morris where Native American students enroll at higher numbers than elsewhere in the system.

As vice chairman of the board, Sviggum either knew of the large Indigenous population at the Morris campus or "is so far detached from his responsibilities as a regent to suggest that his cognitive abilities no longer possess the capacity needed to serve on this board," the group said. About 28% of the campus' enrollment of about 1,200 students last year were Native American, according to the school.

The letter called on Sviggum's fellow regents and university offices to "be consistent and intentional" with their "supposed commitment to diversity, equity, and equality amongst all Minnesotans."

Also signing the letter was Louise Matson, executive director of the Division of Indian Work and vice chair of MUID.

Some of the other groups among the 25 in the MUID are the Ain Dah Yung Center, All Nations Indian Church, American Indian Community and Development Corp., American Indian Family Center, Bois Forte Urban Office, Fond Du Lac Urban Office, Indian Health Board, MIGIZI Communications and the Minneapolis American Indian Center.

The university's media office didn't respond to a request for comment.