University of Minnesota Regent Steve Sviggum apologized Tuesday for casting student diversity in a negative light during a board meeting last week.
“I clearly have more to learn to better understand the strength that diversity brings to our institution,” Sviggum said in a statement released by the U on Tuesday night.
During a presentation Thursday on low enrollment at the U’s Morris campus, where 54 percent of students are white, Sviggum asked the school’s interim chancellor whether it was “possible that at Morris we’ve become too diverse.”
Sviggum, a 71-year-old farmer from Kenyon and former Republican speaker of the state House of Representatives, also said two friends told him last year that their children wouldn’t attend Morris “because it is too diverse a campus; they didn’t feel comfortable there.”
Amid calls for his resignation Monday, Sviggum — whose six-year term ends next year — did not back down from his comments, telling WCCO Radio that he was “just asking a question.”
Then, on Monday night, Board of Regents chairman Ken Powell issued a statement calling diversity “a strength” and said he would “be in contact with my colleagues on this issue.”
Another regent, James Farnsworth of St. Paul, said on Twitter late Monday that Sviggum’s comments were “hurtful and inappropriate.”
Sviggum in his statement Tuesday seemed to indicate he had accepted the invitation of Morris Campus Student Association President Dylan Young to visit the campus.
“I look forward to taking those who have reached out to me up on their offers to meet and to hear their perspectives and learn from them. I am willing to learn and I must do better — and I will,” Sviggum said.
A member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Young is among the 32 percent of Morris students who are American Indian. Morris has a federal mandate to provide free tuition to Indians because of the western Minnesota campus’ boarding school history.
Young on Monday sent Sviggum a letter, signed by more than 200 supporters, describing how he and his non-white peers “face several unique challenges because the college environment was not designed for us to succeed — much less feel included.”
Young also said it is the large group of American Indians at Morris that made him feel comfortable there.
“While the diversity at the University of Minnesota, Morris might make some prospective students uncomfortable, I reckon that it has the exact opposite effect on a far greater number of students,” he wrote.
Sviggum in his statement Tuesday apologized “unequivocally … especially for the unintended hurt my questions may have caused. They were not intended to cause harm, but my intent does not matter.”
The Morris campus has lost nearly half its students in the last eight years as more high school graduates have opted for work instead of college and more of those who have stayed in school have chosen large universities. The coronavirus pandemic only made things worse for Morris, partly because its international student pipeline dried up. Morris has just 1,068 students this fall, well short of its 2024 goal of 1,700.
FULL STATEMENT
This is the full statement Sviggum released through the U on Tuesday:
Last week, during University of Minnesota Morris Interim Chancellor Ericksen’s presentation on MPact 2025 enrollment goals at Morris, I posed a question regarding the diversity of the student body and whether that diversity was — in any way — linked to the recent enrollment challenges.
Let me unequivocally apologize for my questions, and especially for the unintended hurt my questions may have caused. They were not intended to cause harm, but my intent does not matter. For those whom I have harmed or offended, and for all of those associated with our great university, I am truly sorry. I have only respect and admiration for any individual who seeks to better themselves through higher education, whether at Morris or at any of our wonderful campuses. Minnesota benefits from our many amazing students from all walks of life who make incredible contributions to our community, and their work strengthens the great state of Minnesota. I hope that all of our graduates elect to stay in Minnesota after graduation and work, every day, for the betterment of our state.
My intent — recognizing that my words matter — was to foster discussion around the consistently declining enrollment at Morris, which is not a one-year trend or even a concern that has emerged out of the COVID pandemic. Rather, student enrollment has been declining for years (down 50% from its peak) and the future of this great campus depends on finding solutions to reverse that trend.
I have been blessed throughout my life as a farmer to work with a diversity of people across our state and our nation from all backgrounds. As a layperson in my church, I have shared the joys and heartbreaks of so many of my fellow parishioners. And as a proud Regent, I have been given the incredible opportunity to help our institution, our president, and our students, staff, and faculty who set a very high bar for the rest of us.
Again, I offer my sincerest apologies. I clearly have more to learn to better understand the strength that diversity brings to our institution, and I look forward to taking those who have reached out to me up on their offers to meet and to hear their perspectives and learn from them. I am willing to learn and I must do better — and I will.