Last Wednesday, around 50 people attended a University of Wyoming (UW) campus-wide discussion about the Legislative session. The event opened the floor for faculty and students to question a panel of UW leadership about the possible implications of bills, executive orders, or budget changes for the university.
Assistant Professor Matt Burgess coordinated the discussion as part of his Presidential Fellowship with UW’s President Ed Seidel to cultivate free expression and constructive dialogue. He’s led similar dialogues focused on gun control and the presidential election as part of the fellowship in the past.
“ We now have institutional neutrality at the University of Wyoming, so the president isn't going to be making statements about whatever's going on in the world,” Burgess said. “And so, I thought, instead, let's have a dialogue about them.”
He chose the Legislative session as this discussion’s topic because bills and the state budget can both have an outsized effect on the university.
“We get something like half of our budget from the state as we're the only four-year school in the state, and so there's a close and great relationship between the state and the campus,” he said. “But certainly, also, the decisions that are made in the statehouse have a big impact on the campus that we thought people might want to discuss.”
The panel included Tara Evan, UW’s Vice President, Alex Keane, UW’s Vice President for Finance, and Mike Smith, UW’s Vice President for Governmental Affairs. According to Burgess, the panelists were selected because their positions would allow them to speak with authority to questions from the attendees. But they weren’t there to share their opinions or predict the future.
“ The role of the administration in this dialogue was not to take a position [or] show their hand,” he said. “It was just to inform, as they're engaged in the discussions and following the Legislative session at a level of detail that the average person on campus was not.”
A common theme that arose was bills and executive orders aimed at removing all traces of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs from universities. Attendees were curious about how the regulations might affect research and teaching at UW.
Due to changes already made over the last year which eliminated programs and functions related to DEI, the panelists indicated that the university is on track to or in compliance with most, if not all, DEI legislation.
A theme discussed was how the supplemental state budget will affect university funding, especially raises for faculty and staff. This is after the supplemental budget was rejected, slashing raises to low-paying school custodial and cafeteria jobs.
Attendees also raised questions about how a bill that has been sent to the governor that legalizes concealed carry of a firearm in school zones would be implemented and enforced on campus.
The panelists said that signs would be placed at locations deemed unsafe to have a firearm, specifically in labs with volatile materials. The law, if passed, would be enforced by campus police.
The discussion followed Chatham House rules, which provide a certain amount of anonymity to attendees and the things they talk about. According to Burgess, that was to make people comfortable sharing their thoughts.
He believes these conversations are important to help deal with polarization on campus.
“The more that we can try to understand where each side is coming from and the less we can talk past each other, the more productive it's gonna be,” he said.
He thinks the university is taking the right steps to become a space for constructive disagreement.
“We're also having better conversations about these issues than other campuses that I've seen,” he said. “So I think that wherever you are in the political spectrum, we should all be proud that the University of Wyoming is leading on having better conversations about these controversial issues.”
Burgess plans to continue hosting those better conversations, but the next topic is yet to be determined.
