University of Minnesota Regents Vice Chair Steve Sviggum asks if Morris campus is 'too diverse'

The vice chairman of the board that oversees the University of Minnesota system said Monday he was just posing the question when he asked whether increased diversity on the Morris campus was holding down enrollment.

At the public meeting of the Board of Regents last week, Vice Chairman Steve 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."

His question prompted backlash, including calls for his resignation from the volunteer position.

"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."

According to KSTP-TV, which first reported the exchange, Schrunk Ericksen responded "on behalf of minority students," saying, "I think that they would be shocked that anyone would think our campus was too diverse. ... They certainly feel, at times, isolated where they are located. So, the answer is from that perspective, no."

The acting chancellor didn't respond to a request for an interview Monday, but Sviggum, a 71-year-old former Minnesota House speaker, answered questions in a phone interview.

He pointed out that he had asked a question, and wasn't making a statement. "As public policymakers, we have to question all of our programs to see if they're meeting the intended or unintended consequences," Sviggum said.

Asked about the ethnicity of the two students who didn't enroll at Morris, Sviggum said he didn't know.

Board of Regents Chair Ken Powell said in a statement that Schrunk Ericksen's comments resonated.

"Our diversity is a strength, it creates opportunity, and it opens the door for many more who have been historically excluded from the economic and other benefits of higher education," Powell wrote.

He said Sviggum wants those with concerns to contact him directly.

Sviggum said in the interview that total enrollment at Morris had decreased by 40% as the enrollment of Black, Indigenous and people of color had increased to nearly 45%. "It's fair to ask the question: Is there a relationship?" Sviggum said.

Asked what he thought the relationship might be, Sviggum said, "I don't know."

Currently, Morris has 1,068 students enrolled. Of those, 54% are white and 32% are Native American. Overall, 41% are Black, Indigenous and people of color.

According to the university's website, Morris enrollment in the fall of 2021 was 1,286 students with 56% white, 28% Native American, 4% Hispanic, 3% Black and 2% Asian.

The goal for the Morris campus is 1,700 students, a number set in 2019 before the pandemic. The campus hasn't had that many students in at least five years, and colleges across the country are struggling with declining enrollment.

Using the acronym for Black, Indigenous and people of color, Sviggum said BIPOC is about "more than color of skin. It's gender. It's sexual orientation. It's all of those things."

Sviggum said institutions, including the university, have tried to hire more police, administrators and professors of color so students who look like them would feel more comfortable. "The reverse is also true — without being racist," Sviggum said. "If the question needs to be fairly asked one way, it needs to be asked the other way."

Dylan Young, president of the Morris Campus Student Association, wrote on social media Monday that he was worried about diversity becoming a scapegoat for enrollment struggles.

Young, who is from Parmelee, S.D., also posted a letter to Sviggum on social media for other students to sign. Young said that as a Native American student, the "diverse and vibrant" Morris campus is a second home for him.

He detailed his financial struggles and of feeling uncomfortableon a campus with only two Native American instructors. Young invited Sviggum to visit the campus before the December meeting of the regents, saying he would treat him to dinner.

"By the end of our time together, it is my hope that you would be able to let your two friends and their children know that diversity should be embraced — not feared," he wrote.

Former Regent Michael Hsu said Sviggum should resign immediately.

"Sviggum's time is up," he said. "His comments and actions have been and are damaging to the university."

Also calling for his immediate resignation was the Teamsters Local 320, which represents 1,500 workers across five University of Minnesota campuses and could strike as early as Saturday. The union said the "racist and divisive comments" by Sviggum are part of a pattern.

"The university gave president [Joan] Gabel a 35% raise this year, yet will not provide a living wage to custodians, cooks, groundskeepers and other service workers – many of whom are Black," the union said.

Sviggum said his tenure on the board will end in 2023 when the Legislature selects new regents.

From 1979 to 2007, he served in the state House as a Republican from Kenyon. He became the speaker after the 1998 election when Republicans took control of the House; he lost the top job after the 2006 election.