University of Minnesota student leaders on Wednesday called for Regent Steve Sviggum to resign, saying they doubted the sincerity of his apology for remarks questioning whether the school's Morris campus had become "too diverse."
"We are concerned that your continued presence on the Board of Regents will signal a hostile attitude toward diversity and deter prospective students from choosing one of the five University of Minnesota campuses," a group of more than two dozen student government leaders wrote in an open letter to Sviggum.
Their letter — one of three calling for Sviggum's resignation — came one day before the Board of Regents is set to meet and two days before its members are set to elect a new vice chair.
Sviggum, who remains on the board but stepped down from the leadership position, declined to comment.
Universities across the country are changing their recruitment strategies as the pool of high school graduates becomes both smaller and more diverse.
The University of Minnesota's strategic plan calls for the Morris campus to have 1,700 students by 2025, but it had just 1,068 at one recent count. About 41% of students describe themselves as a person of color, up from 21% a decade ago.
In a public meeting two months ago, Sviggum asked if it was possible the Morris campus had become "too diverse" from "a marketing standpoint." Following a backlash from students, faculty and some fellow regents, Sviggum issued a public apology saying he intended to encourage a discussion about enrollment struggles and had more to learn about the strength diversity brings to the University of Minnesota.
Among those who called Wednesday for Sviggum's resignation was Dylan Young, president of the Morris Campus Student Association, who said he questioned the seriousness of Sviggum's willingness to learn more about diversity based on remarks Sviggum made to the media, to fellow regents and during a visit to the Morris campus last month.
